Food grains worth Rs 3,000 crore is saved: Girish Bapat

Revealing that the state governnment has saved food grains worth Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 crore since bogus ration card holders have not turned up for linking it with UID or Aadhaar cards, minister for food and civil supplies Girish Bapat on Thursday said that the number of bogus ration cards in the state would be ascertained by April 20.

Responding to a call attention motion moved by MLAs Nitesh Rane, Harshawardhan Sapkal, Aslam Shaikh, Amin Patel, Abu Azmi, Santosh Tarfe and Nirmala Gavit, the minister informed that after UID or Aadhaar card got statutory recognition in the Budget session of the Union government, the drive to link ration cards with Aadhaar card has got momentum. He informed that since the Union government is monitoring the same and the drive in Maharashtra would be over by April 15, he would be in a position to know the exact number of bogus ration cards in the state by April 20.

Bapat explanied that since ration card holders are being asked to link it with Aadhhaar ccards, those who have either bogus cards or in case the PDS shops are having a bunch of such ccards, they are not coming forward for lifting the food grains since they would be exposed. As a result, he said, food grains worth Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 crore have been saved.

Bapat added that after extending the benefits of the food security scheme to farmers from 14 drought-affected districts in Marathwada and Vidarbha, the state is considering to extend the same too APL or above poverty-line families from drought-hit areas since a lot of food grains would be saved as bogus ration card holders were not coming forward.