Around seven lakh ration card holders in the city under the Above Poverty Line (APL) category are suspected to be bogus, said officials.
They said by plugging leakages to these suspected bogus card holders, the State Government could save crores of rupees every month. Under the APL-stamped category, card holders get rice at a rate of Rs.9 per kg and wheat at Rs.7 per kg.
The Food and Supplies Department of the Delhi Government suspect that the seven lakh card holders are either claiming their entitlements illegally or the cards have been fraudulently made by the fair price shop owners to increase their quota of food grains. They have stopped allotment of ration to around a third of these card holders from July.
The revelations come within months of the Department deactivating around 1.65 lakh bogus ration cards issued under the Below Poverty Line, Antyodaya Anna Yojana, Jhuggi Ration Cards and Resettlement Colony Ration Cards categories in April.
“Around 11 lakh households in the city were covered under the APL category. But only four lakh card holders have applied for the Food Security Card till now. Since the applications were invited several months ago, chances are that the remaining seven lakh card holders are not real. Ration has been stopped to around 2.3 lakh card holders,” a senior Delhi Government official said.
“For around 5.7 lakh APL-stamped card holders, only 50 per cent of the actual entitlements have been released this month. It will be further be reduced by 25 per cent for the next two months. If these holders do not apply for Food Security Card and prove their authenticity, these cards will be deactivated from September.”
