The Hindu: Hyderabad: Saturday,
July 23, 2016.
“2.11 lakh
cards issued under the two schemes have been cancelled since 2014”
There has
been a drastic cut in the number of ration cards under Anthyodaya and Annapurna
schemes in Telangana in the last two years.
Over two lakh
ration cards issued under the Anthyodaya Anna Yojna and more than 11,000 under
Annapurna scheme have been cancelled since 2014, after formation of Telangana
state, as per the information obtained under Right to Information Act by the
CPI(M) Greater Hyderabad Committee.
The
Anthyodaya cards are issued to poorest of the poor, single persons and the
disabled, under which 35 kg of rice is given per month at Re.1 per kg.
The Annapurna
cards are issued to senior citizens with no other means of survival, under
which 10 kg of rice is distributed free.
The greatest
cut in Anthyodaya cards was experienced by Karimnagar district, where the
number of the cards was reduced to 66,786 from 1,44,579, closely followed by
Mahabubnagar down to 70,124 from the 1,41,308 cards earlier.
On the whole,
the Anthyodaya cards were cut down from 7,91,521 in 2014-15 to 5,64,771 while
the Annapurna cards were reduced to mere 5,008 from the 16,740 earlier, as per
the data provided by the Civil Supplies department.
In a strange
case, the Annapurna cards in Khammam district were cut down to mere eight, from
1,641 earlier.
CPI (M) city
secretary of Greater Hyderabad M. Srinivas alleged that many people who lost
the cards were eligible for the ration.
While
distribution of new cards was yet to begin, people were put to untold hardship
due to the culling of ration cards, he said, at a press conference here on
Friday.
There were a
total of 3,78,542 applications pending for issue of new ration cards, as per
the information obtained under the RTI. The Civil Supplies vigilance committees
were yet to begin functioning, Mr.Srinivas said.
He demanded
that the cards of the poorest of the poor be renewed, and the ration issued be
expanded.
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