The State government is considering changing certain basic criteria for identifying families as ‘Below Poverty Line’ for issuing ration cards and also supply proteins to cardholders in the near future, said U.T. Khader, Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs.
He also announced that new biometric coupon-based kerosene distribution would be introduced in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike limits next month.
Speaking to presspersons after hearing public grievances here on Thursday, he said that the government was aware of irregularities in the distribution of BPL cards to families which were not below the poverty line.
So far, the government had cancelled more than 6.50 lakh such bogus cards in the State.
The irregularities were due to certain existing clauses defining the status of a family as BPL or Above Poverty Line (APL), which needed to be changed so that the families below poverty line were not deprived of the benefits of public distribution system.
He said presently the card holders were getting carbohydrates from under the Public Distribution System (PDS) from fair price shops (FPS). The government was also considering supplying proteins to cardholders.
He announced that mobile canteens in major cities and towns would be introduced so that the commuting public at railway and bus stations could get fresh cooked food at subsidised prices.
“Our government wants to see that nobody was left hungry in the State,” he said adding that the modalities on evolving a network of canteens for the purpose were being worked out.
He also assured of increasing the commission on kerosene and also to bear the cost of transportation of the fuel to the shop/retailer identified for distribution of the fuel at subsidised price.
For complaints related to fair price shops, dial free helpline number ‘1967’
Inform about a bogus ration card and win a cash prize of Rs. 400
