Ahead of Lok Sabha poll, Punjab govt to restore free ration to 10.7 lakh beneficiaries

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, January 24

Ahead of the General Election, the Punjab Government has decided to restore the distribution of free ration to 10.77 lakh beneficiaries. Their names had been deleted from the beneficiaries list of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) after a survey was conducted to weed out fake beneficiaries in 2022.

A decision to this effect has been taken by the Cabinet during a meeting of the council of ministers, chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. It has been decided that these beneficiaries will be given free wheat/atta till the results of a de novo survey of beneficiaries comes out. These inclusions have been made on the eve of the launch of the ambitious scheme of doorstep delivery of wheat/atta to beneficiaries by the AAP government.

By taking these beneficiaries back in the fold, the total number of beneficiaries under the NFSA scheme will go up to 1.54 crore. As many as 34.22 lakh ration card holders or households get free wheat under the NFSA scheme in the state.

Official sources in the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs have told The Tribune that wheat is provided by the Centre for free distribution to only 1.41 crore beneficiaries or 31.33 lakh households. The remaining beneficiaries, being taken back in the scheme now will be given wheat or atta by the state government by spending Rs 15 crore per month from their own kitty.

The removal of these beneficiaries had led to a lot of hue and cry, with many claiming that they were eligible to get free ration, but their names were erroneously removed. Last year, it was decided to conduct a fresh survey of all beneficiaries in order to verify their antecedents.

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