To Add 11 Lakh Pending Applicants to 'Food Chain', Delhi Govt Starts Purge of 'Dubious' Ration Cards

The Delhi government has started a mega cleansing drive of ration cards with the deletion of all those names who are not taking the ration, have expired cards, have moved out, or are not living in the correct address, as per the official documents seen by News18.

In a circular issued last week, the food supplies and consumer affairs department of the Delhi government has said that more than 11 lakh beneficiaries are awaiting issuance of ration cards under different categories. These people have been awaiting the inclusion of their names as National Food Security (NFS) beneficiaries for a long time.

The department has directed all the zonal assistant commissioners to ensure appropriate action in a time-bound manner and complete the exercise in a month.

There will be four conditions based on which ration cards will be deleted: ration card holders who have died, those who don’t require it and are willing to surrender the card, those who have not lifted the ration even once from October 2021 to September 2022 and even after that, and those who have shifted from the address and not found residing.

“After detailed discussion and deliberation that a larger number of potential beneficiaries (who have applied for issuance of Ration Card from Delhi) are awaiting for inclusion of their names as NFS beneficiaries for a long time but they could not be included due to non-availability of vacant allocation/seats (as decided in accordance with NFS Act 2013 which was as per 2011 census of Delhi),” the order, seen by News18, said.

It went on to say that Delhi has already included 72,77,995 NFS beneficiary members and at present the beneficiary coverage under the Targeted Public Distribution System as per section 3(2) of the NFS Act 2013 has been exhausted.

Speaking to News18, an official explained that there is a limit of beneficiaries a state can have and for Delhi, it is 72 lakh.

“The limit was exhausted long back. The addition and deletion of names is a continuous process. As soon as a space is created after deletion of certain names, those first in the pending list get the preference,” the official said, adding that they have already requested the Centre to increase the limit.

The order was issued after the department held a drive to physically verify cardholders who were not lifting the ration. The circle officers were asked to physically verify the details of over 81,000 cardholders who were not taking the ration.

The Delhi government had been asked several times to add the pending names.

In October 2021, the Delhi High Court sought the local government’s stand on why the application for the issuance of a ration card by a daily wage worker was pending for eight years.

The Delhi government informed the HC that the Centre had set a limit of 72 lakh ration cards in the city based on the 2011 Census. This limit had been exhausted.

As per section 8 of the Food Security Act, any person who is entitled to get a ration card is entitled to receive a food security allowance from the state government.

Last year, the Delhi High Court asked the city government to survey all pending applications for ration cards to see whether they were entitled to receive food security allowance.

In July 2023, the court said that section 8 of the National Food Security Act, 2013, mandates providing security allowance to each person if that person is entitled to food grains or meals under Chapter II.

“The state government cannot wait till a person gets a ration card. The state government is directed to assess as to whether the petitioners would be entitled to receive the allowances,” said the HC, adding that it is expected that the state will extend the benefit to all similarly placed persons without them having to approach the court.

The official, quoted above, is confident that a lot of names will be removed from the list and those awaiting the ration card will get it very soon.