PALAKKAD: Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Adoor Prakash has said that 5,43,348 families will be removed from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list before December 25.

At a press conference here on Friday, the Minister said the State Government had started the short-listing process. All those now included in the list would have to file a self-declaration form before December 25. If false information was given, action would be taken, he said.

The Minister said that according to the State Government's calculation, 20,48,862 families were eligible to be in the BPL list in Kerala. But the Centre's calculation put it at only 15,05,514.

The Minister said the Union Government guidelines were preventing inclusion of a large number of families in the list. For example, those families having electricity connection in their houses were not eligible to be included. This guideline was not applicable to Kerala. So, the Government had requested the Centre to amend the guidelines. But so far, there was no favourable response to it from the Centre, he added.

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