States and UTs cancel 4.28 cr bogus ration cards during 2014-21

Uttar Pradesh has cancelled 1,70,75,301 bogus ration cards, followed by Maharashtra (41,65,552), West Bengal (41,09,873), Madhya Pradesh (23,53,760), Rajasthan (22,66,485) and Karnataka (21,54,193).

New Delhi: States and Union Territories have cancelled about 4.28 crore bogus ration cards during the 2014-21 period, Parliament was informed on Friday.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs Ashwini Kumar Choubey said the operational responsibilities of the public distribution system under the food law rest with the state governments.

The responsibilities include identification of eligible beneficiaries/ households under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), issuance of ration cards to them as per eligibility and distribution of foodgrains to them from ration shops.

Under the NFSA, the state/UT governments periodically review their lists of ration card holders to weed out potentially ineligible, duplicate or bogus ration cards from their respective systems after proper verification.

"Accordingly, the State/UTs have reported cancellation of about 4.28 crore bogus ration cards during the period 2014 to 2021 so far," Choubey said.

As per the list, Uttar Pradesh has cancelled 1,70,75,301 bogus ration cards, followed by Maharashtra (41,65,552), West Bengal (41,09,873), Madhya Pradesh (23,53,760), Rajasthan (22,66,485) and Karnataka (21,54,193).

As many as 18,73,325 and 12,21,283 cards were deleted in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, respectively.

Chhattisgarh deleted 13,57,677 cards during this period.

PTI