Restore ration supply, urges Minister

Imran Hussain says ration should have been stopped only after verification

Imran Hussain

Minister of Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Imran Hussain on Sunday wrote to Food Commissioner Mohanjeet Singh directing him to restore supply of ration to all the beneficiaries who did not avail it for the last three months.

The Minister said that he was shocked to read in a circular that the Food Department had stopped the supply of ration to those beneficiaries who did not avail their entitled ration for three consecutive months from January 2018 to March 2018.

“The Circular says that their ration is being stopped from May 2018. Their verification would now be done and their ration will be restored only if they are found to be genuine after verification. This is a strange proposition. The department should have first conducted verification and if the ration card was found to be bogus, then it should have been cancelled and ration should have been stopped,” wrote Mr. Hussain.

The Minister also told the Food Commissioner to initiate verification of all those ration card holders who did not turn up during the period from January to March.

“If during verification, any card is found not to be genuine only then the card should be cancelled after giving an opportunity of being heard and after following all rules and prescribed procedures. Only then should the ration be stopped,” he wrote.

‘Refer to ACB’

He also directed Mr. Singh to refer the matter of bogus ration cards to Anti Corruption Branch (ACB), as per L-G’s direction, without delay.