Assam: Aadhaar row deprives 1.63 lakh people of food grains

Dispur moves Centre for consideration

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: A section of beneficiaries under the NFSA (National Food Security Act, 2013) are deprived of food grains due to the non-availability of Aadhaar cards. This has led the State Government to write a letter to the Centre to take the issue as a special one and provide them food grains without Aadhaar seeding with their ration cards.

The written reply to a query from Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia, Minister Food and Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass revealed on the floor of the State Assembly today that as many as 1,63,532 ration card holders in the state are not getting food grains due to a lack of Aadhaar card-ration card seeding. The government urged the central government to consider this a special case to provide these otherwise eligible beneficiaries with benefits under the NFSA.

According to sources in the Commissionerate of Food, Public Distribution, and Consumer Affairs, the Aadhaar cards of some NFSA beneficiaries have been blocked due to the issue of the NRC (National Register of Citizens). However, according to the revised rule of the Central Government, Aadhaar card-ration card seeding is a must for a beneficiary to get food grains under NFSA. The sources further said that these 1,63,532 NFSA beneficiaries were otherwise eligible for food grains, and they received food grains before the introduction of Aadhaar-ration card seeding. Hence, the State Government urged the Department of Food and Public Distribution of the Government of India to reconsider the issue of these beneficiaries as a special case.

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