According to official documents, the Delhi government has launched a major campaign of cleaning ration cards with the removal of all names of those who are not taking ration, whose cards have expired, moved out, or are not at the correct address. Are not living. News18.
In a circular issued last week, the Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department of the Delhi government has said that more than 11 lakh beneficiaries are waiting for the issuance of ration cards under various categories. These people have been waiting for their names to be included as National Food Security (NFS) beneficiaries for a long time.
The department has directed all zonal assistant commissioners to ensure appropriate action in a time bound manner and complete the work within a month.
There will be four conditions on the basis of which ration cards will be removed: Ration card holders who have died, who no longer require it and are willing to surrender the card, who have not picked up ration even once from October 2021 to September. 2022 and beyond, and who have shifted from the address and are no longer resident.
“After detailed discussion and deliberations that a large number of potential beneficiaries (who have applied for issue of ration cards from Delhi) are waiting for their names to be included as NFS beneficiaries for a long time, but due to unavailability Due to this they could not be included. Vacant allotment/number of seats (as decided as per NFS Act 2013 which was as per 2011 Census of Delhi),” said the order seen by News18.
It said Delhi has already covered 72,77,995 NFS beneficiary members and currently the beneficiary coverage under the Targeted Public Distribution System as per Section 3(2) of the NFS Act 2013 has been exhausted.
Speaking to News18, an official told that there is a limit of beneficiaries a state can have and for Delhi, it is 72 lakh.
“The limit was reached long ago. Adding and removing names is a continuous process. As soon as a space becomes available after deletion of some names, the first ones in the pending list get priority,” the official said, adding that he has already requested the Center to increase the limit.
The order was issued after the department launched a drive for physical verification of cardholders not lifting ration. Circle officers were asked to physically verify the details of over 81,000 cardholders who were not taking ration.
Delhi government was asked several times to add the pending names.
In October 2021, the Delhi High Court sought the local government’s stand on why an application by a daily wage worker for issue of a ration card was pending for eight years.
The Delhi government informed the HC that the Center has set a limit of 72 lakh ration cards in the city based on the 2011 census. This limit had been reached.
According to Section 8 of the Food Security Act, any person who is entitled to obtain a ration card is entitled to receive Food Security Allowance from the State Government.
Last year, the Delhi High Court had asked the city government to survey all pending applications for ration cards to see if they are entitled to receive food security allowance.
In July 2023, the court said that Section 8 of the National Food Security Act, 2013 mandates providing security allowance to every person if that person is entitled to food grains or food under Chapter II.
“The state government cannot wait until a person gets a ration card. The state government is directed to assess whether the petitioners would be entitled to receive the allowances,” the HC said, adding that it is hopeful that the state will provide the benefits to all similarly placed persons without having to approach the court.
The official quoted above is confident that a lot of names will be removed from the list and people waiting for ration cards will get it soon.
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