Karnataka - Raichur   

`16,28,000 families removed from BPL list'

By Our Staff Correspondent

RAICHUR, SEPT. 12. The implementation of a scheme to provide subsidised foodgrains to families below the poverty line (BPL) has no meaning as the Government has abruptly withdrawn nearly 25 per cent of the ration cards issued in the State even before conducting a re-survey to identify bogus cardholders, Sheik Rizwan, president of the district unit of the Janata Dal (Secular), has said.

He told The Hindu on Saturday that the coalition Government in the State had decided to launch the scheme to provide rice at Rs.3 a kg from September. The BPL cardholders could get 20 kg of rice and five kg of wheat at subsidised rates under the scheme.

He said the Department of Food and Civil Supplies had taken a unilateral decision to reduce the number of BPL cardholders without consulting the district administrations. This had affected the real beneficiaries under the scheme, he added.

Census

He said that according to the 2001 Census, there were about 67,47,352 BPL families in the State, of which 16,28,683 families had been removed from the list. About 51,19,000 eligible families were still to avail the benefits under the scheme, he said. In Belgaum district, 2,72,566 BPL families had been removed from the new list, while about 18,000 families were removed from the list in Koppal district. Nearly 40 per cent of the BPL families had been removed from the list in Raichur district.

Earlier, the number of BPL families identified was 1,95,045. As per the revised list, only 1,18,996 BPL families in Raichur district were eligible for benefits under the scheme, Mr. Rizwan added.

He said that the department had taken the decision based on the funds provided for the scheme in the Budget.

Ineligible

Mr. Rizwan said that the reduction in the number of ration cards had made many BPL families ineligible for free medical treatment at the Rajiv Gandhi Super-speciality Hospital in Raichur.

Prior to the Assembly elections, the party leaders had advised the district units to identify all eligible poor families and help them to get ration cards under BPL category.

He said he would take up the issue with the Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, and urge him to order a re-survey jointly by the officials of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies and local bodies.

The officials of the department, in its normal drive conducted over the past three months, had detected more than 2,600 BPL families in the district who possessed illegal ration cards.

Identified

According to official sources, nearly 70 per cent of the population in the district had been identified as BPL families. There had been no direction to identify the BPL families left out in the previous census.

It is said that the Union Government had refused to supply additional foodgrains to the Government to implement the scheme.

The situation had, therefore, forced the Government to reduce the number of ration cards.

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