STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: This Bohag (Assamese New Year) is set to bring good news for a section of people in the state with annual income not exceeding Rs 2.50 lakh. The State government will issue around 40 lakh ration cards after the Bohag Bihu, in phases.
The State Government stopped the issuance of ration cards for about two years.
Speaking to The Sentinel, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass said, “When the new government led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma came at the helm of affairs, we noticed that a large number of ineligible families had ration cards under the NFSA-2013 (National Food Security Act-2013). I appealed to the people with annual income exceeding Rs 1 lakh to surrender their ration cards voluntarily. Responding to my call, around one lakh people surrendered their ration cards voluntarily. I then brought the matter to the attention of the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister also made an appeal to the families not eligible to hold ration cards. That appeal led to the voluntary surrender of around four lakh ration cards. We noticed lakhs of ineligible families were still holding ration cards. We asked the district administrations to carry out drives against ineligible ration cardholders. The district administration deleted 10 lakh more ineligible families from the ration card database.”
Dass said, “According to the Central Government’s guidelines, the seeding of Aadhaar cards and ration cards is mandatory. However, around 25 lakh families holding ration cards have not seeded their ration cards and Aadhaar cards. Thus, a total of around 40 lakh ration cards got deleted from the data as of now.”
Dass further said, “According to the NFSA, 84.6 per cent of the total population of the State should get ration cards. Now, the department is in a position to issue fresh ration cards to around 40 lakh people. We did set a timeline for the issuance of cards. People have applied, and we are scrutinizing the applications. The Chief Minister will launch the issuance of ration cards in Bohag.”
When asked if eligible people could still apply for ration cards, the minister said, “Eligible people can contact their district administration or their local Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs officials. However, such people should not have government jobs, and their annual income should not exceed Rs 2.50 lakh (revised from Rs 1 lakh earlier).”
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