With Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal fuming over the cancellation of around 2.93 lakh ration card holder by the department of food and supplies in the national Capital, the government has not yet responded on the request to restore the e-PoS facility in the city.
The department of food and supplies had written a letter to Delhi minister Imran Hussain in June requesting the government to restore the e-PoS (electronic point of sale) facility for distributing ration in the Capital.
Sources in the department said that around 2.93 lakh ration card holders did not turn up for taking ration consecutively for January, February and March. According to the sources, all the glitches in the facility have been taken care of and it can now be used by the general public.
"Why the government has not yet responded to the suggestion of starting the facility again? The facility could have helped the residents to get food from the e-PoS machine," said an official requesting anonymity.
The food and supplies department has issued a series of notices to the 2.93 lakh ration card holders to visit the department and verified themselves. "Those names have been cancelled are the ones who do not qualify for the ration services. We had sent many reminders to all of them," added the official.
The government, however, called the move "inhuman" and termed it as a "conspiracy to deny ration to the poor people and a clear, deliberate and intentional violation at the behest of the Central government". It also alleged that the cancellation process has been undertaken without a door-to-door survey of households.
"The department officers have failed to appreciate the adverse social impact of cancellation of 2.93 lakh odd ration cards covering more than 10 lakh beneficiaries. All such families and members in one go would be rendered hungry because of the insensitive, apathetic, hostile, inhuman attitude of the officers. It would cause tremendous hardship and could also prove to be fatal to human lives, a situation which no responsible government can afford to occur," a statement from the government stated.
According to the sources, the food minister had sought details of ration card holders and beneficiaries whose names were intended to be deleted in his note dated 26th July but no information and details have been provided to him till date. "Instead the officers are proceeding with the cancellation of the ration cards in utter defiance of the minister's repeated directions," added the statement from the government.
The issue has been another bone of contention between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the bureaucracy. The food department has earlier referred the file on the doorstep delivery of ration scheme to the law department seeking its opinion after all objections in the scheme were "overruled" and was cleared by Kejriwal.
OPINION SOUGHT
The issue has been another bone of contention between the AAP and the bureaucracy. The food department has earlier referred the file to the law department seeking its opinion
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