Ranchi, July 13: The Jharkhand Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Department has cancelled ration cards of around 10.06 lakh ineligible beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) during the past six to seven months as part of a statewide verification drive.
The department said the action was taken against beneficiaries falling under eight categories of ineligibility, including GST taxpayers with high turnover, income tax payers, company directors, deceased beneficiaries, inactive ration card holders, two-wheeler owners, landholders beyond prescribed limits and duplicate beneficiaries.
According to the department, 793 ration cards of beneficiaries with GST turnover exceeding ₹25 lakh were cancelled, accounting for 80.43 per cent of the identified cases. Giridih recorded the highest number of cancellations (96), followed by East Singhbhum (94), Palamu (89) and Ranchi (76).
The verification drive also led to the cancellation of ration cards belonging to 63 per cent of identified income tax-paying beneficiaries with annual taxable income above ₹6 lakh. East Singhbhum topped the list with 10,780 cancellations, followed by Dhanbad (10,408), Palamu (5,635) and Hazaribagh (4,812).
The department cancelled 4,704 ration cards of beneficiaries identified as company directors based on data received from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).
In another major exercise, 2,43,408 ration cards linked to beneficiaries whose death certificates had been issued were cancelled, representing 96 per cent of the identified suspicious Aadhaar-linked cases.
Authorities also cancelled 95.70 per cent of ration cards belonging to beneficiaries who had not lifted food grains for the past six months. In addition, action was taken against duplicate beneficiaries, ineligible landholders and ration card holders owning two-wheelers after verification.
The department said the eligibility verification of more than 22 lakh ration card holders is still underway and further action will be taken against beneficiaries found ineligible under NFSA norms.
“Around 10.06 lakh ineligible beneficiaries have been removed from the NFSA database during the past six to seven months as part of an ongoing verification drive,” the department said.
It added that “the eligibility verification process of more than 22 lakh ration card holders is still underway across the state.”
