Nirupam claimed that the government was depriving poor citizens from availing a basic need: food. (File)
Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam has alleged that the Maharashtra government was “forcing people” to link their ration cards with their Aadhaar number. He claimed that the government was depriving poor citizens from availing a basic need: food. Nirupam further alleged that the state government was de-registering ration cards that were not yet linked with Aadhaar numbers. At a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday, he presented a few documents and “victims” to substantiate his claims.
Nirupam argued that the Supreme Court has stated that Aadhaar can’t be made compulsory for availing welfare benefits and subsidies from the government. “The documents which I possess show that around 21.80 lakh beneficiaries have had their ration cards deregistered as they had failed to link them with Aadhaar. Currently, these people have no way of getting any ration supply as the EPOS — the Aadhaar linked public distribution system — has deregistered them,” he said.
However, Atul Bhathkalkar, senior BJP leader and MLA from Kandivali East, said those complaining about the system were not “genuinely needy”, and all they had to do was link their Aadhaar numbers to get the benefits. “Because of the EPOS-Aadhaar linked public distribution system that was introduced by the BJP government after it came to power, we have got rid of bogus ration cards… this means more benefits can be offered to genuinely needy people. Nirupam has lost his mental balance… so, he is taking up these non-issues and trying to mislead people,” said Bhathkalkar.