People being denied blue-card benefits

Neeraj Bagga

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 18

In a gross misappropriation, the people belonging to marginal sections of society are being denied the benefits of Blue Card, which enables them to purchase ration at subsidized rates from the public distribution system (PDS).

It was none other than the BJP district unit chief, Naresh Sharma, who brought the matter to the notice of Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam. Over hundred Blue Card holders have not receive stipulated quantity of grain. Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) has assured to look into the matter.

Sharma said only handful of identified cases benefitted from the card scheme. Many more BPL card holders had not received the grain under the scheme, he added.

A widow and mother of three, Kashmir Kaur, a resident of Sultanwind village, alleged that she had not received the ration against the card for the past six months.

Salwinder Singh, a resident of Kailash Nagar, said there were four members in his family. He said he received the supply of grain from the area depot under the public distribution scheme over six months ago.

There are 1.25 lakh Blue Card holders in the district. A large number of them have been complaining of not getting stipulated quantity of grain under the SAD-BJP government’s flagship Atta-Dal Scheme.

Under the scheme each card holder is given wheat at Re 1 per kg while dal is given at Rs 20 per kg. The maximum limit of wheat per person for each month has been fixed at of 35 kg. The limit of dal has been fixed at 2.5 kg per household at the rate of Rs 20 per kg.

“I have not received dal against the card,” said Tarsem Singh, a Blue Card holder. He said he was buying wheat flour from the open market to meet his family needs. It stretched his kitchen budget as he purchased wheat flour at Rs 20 a kg in the open market, he added.

He said the subsidised ration was a relief for families in time of high inflation. He added that his family was finding it difficult to cope with daily expenditures with his meager income.

The state government was the first to implement the National Food Security Act after merging it with its own version of the Atta-Dal Scheme. Following the implementation of the scheme, wheat and dal were distributed on a six-month basis said officials.