The J&K govt. constituted district-level committees to verify beneficiaries enrolled in the Public Distribution System (PDS) database
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday (December 24, 2024) constituted district-level committees to verify beneficiaries enrolled in the Public Distribution System (PDS) database, amid allegations by the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party that 1.27 lakh ration cards have been cancelled in the Union Territory.
In a directive, the government mandated the district-level committees to verify beneficiaries and oversee the identification of eligible individuals, removal of ineligible entries, and inclusion of left-out beneficiaries under the PDS.
It directed ensuring the inclusion of eligible but left-out individuals and completing e-KYC for all pending eligible beneficiaries under the PDS.
The committees will be chaired by the Deputy Commissioners and will have the Assistant Commissioner (Revenue), Assistant Commissioner (Development), District Social Welfare Officer, and the Assistant Director, Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs (FCS & CA) as its members.
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The government said the initiative aimed to streamline the PDS database and ensure that benefits reached deserving individuals without discrepancies.
The move came after PDP legislator Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra claimed that the Jammu and Kashmir government has had 1.27 lakh ration cards cancelled in recent years. “It has deprived lakhs of people of their basic right to food, especially those who had been receiving additional rations under the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Food Entitlement Scheme (MMSFES). The government must answer on what grounds these ration cards have been cancelled,” Mr. Parra said.
Mr. Parra had urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to “personally intervene in the matter” and “ensure that our basic entitlements are not diluted nor snatched”.
Department clarifies
The Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, however, refuted the PDP’s allegations. “No such order has been issued. Besides, the figure being quoted does not even match the actual deletion figure. With regard to fake and duplicate ration cards, deletions have been made in Jammu and Kashmir since 2013. These are in fact the deletions carried out in the past over 10 years in Jammu and Kashmir as a part of reforms pursued by the Government of India across the country,” the department said in a statement.
An addition of 8.6 lakh eligible beneficiaries was made to PDS in Jammu and Kashmir since shifting to a dependable Ration Card Management System in September 2022, it added.
Published – December 24, 2024 10:39 pm IST