Maharashtra has over 10 lakh bogus ration cards and 29 lakh dormant cards. Transactions worth ₹6.7 crore were carried out using dormant cards in the past one year alone.
The latest figures were released as part of the government’s drive to weed out ration cards without any documentation and proof. The State government is making all efforts to link ration cards with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which has received a report card from all States reporting over 3 crore bogus ration cards from across the country. The cards found to be bogus in Maharashtra have been flagged in the State’s e-system and frozen.
‘Aadhaar to take over’
While delivering a lecture to the State IAS Association this week, UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey, said, “The State governments have identified over 3 crore bogus ration cards across the country. Ultimately, the idea is that the Aadhaar should take over the system of issuing ration cards altogether. Because no matter how many cards you weed out, they keep popping up in larger numbers from nowhere.”
Once the bogus cards are weeded out, Aadhaar will used to disburse ration to card holders. Senior officials said security is a concern since bogus and dormant cards have not provided any documentation. With Aadhaar in mind, the State has already turned 51,259 Fair Price Shops (FPSs) cashless to conduct transactions through point-of-sale terminals. It is also providing an e-wallet facility to card holders in rural areas to augment the use of Aadhaar.
“The leakages in ration distribution were to the tune of 30% in the old system. But now, with the bogus cards identified and flagged, we will be able to reach out to every genuine beneficiaries,” said Mahesh Phatak, principal secretary, Food and Civil Supply and Consumer Affairs.
The government has already linked fair price shops to Business Correspondents to roll out end-to-end transaction facilities at the FPSs. The FPSs are supplying subsidised goods to card holders and persons below poverty line.
Senior state officials informed that during the pilot work, POS software was successfully integrated with an e-PDS (public distribution software) to test live end-to-end transactions at the shops. “So far about 3,000 shops are yet to be linked to the internet. But once that is done, we will have full connectivity and reach to the beneficiaries,” said Mr. Phatak.
