Odisha has removed more than 7.48 lakh people from ration card database due to various reasons.
Odisha Ration Card: In a significant move to clean up ineligible recipients in the ration card list, BJP-ruled Odisha has removed more than 7.48 lakh people due to various reasons, including those found occupying higher income slabs, from the ration card database. According to the Odisha government, the names of 7,48,849 people have been excluded from the list after e-KYC verification process.
How many people were excluded?
In a written reply in the state assembly on Wednesday, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra revealed that 30,125 ineligible ration card holders, comprising 1,09,853 individuals and 6,38,996 death cases, have been excluded from the ration card database since June 2024.
In Ganjam district, 53,964 people have been excluded from the list due to death, followed by Keonjhar district (46,334), Sundargarh (33,999), Koraput (33,785), Kalahandi (32,663) and Nabarangpur (30,830), as per the reply.
Similarly, a total of 10,862 ineligible individuals have been removed from the list in Cuttack district, while 10,577 people have been removed from the free ration scheme in Khurda district.
Why Odisha removed people from ration card list?
According to the minister, ration card applicants and ineligible ration card holders have been informed about the reason for exclusion from their respective Ration Card Management System (RCMS) centres functioning in 314 blocks and 64 urban local bodies (ULBS) across the state.
The ‘Odisha State Food Security (Targeted Public Distribution System) Rules 2020’ clearly explain the exclusion of intending ration card applicants on grounds of income slab, he said.
(With PTI inputs)
