Verify beneficiaries under smart ration card scheme

LUDHIANA: Cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Thursday directed deputy commissioners (DCs) across the state to conduct fresh verification of eligible beneficiaries covered under smart ration card scheme with immediate effect.

Giving more information, Ashu said, “The decision has been taken in view of the directions of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh who desires every eligible household to avail the benefit and simultaneously ensure exclusion of the ineligible ones. So, the deputy commissioners have been entrusted to carry out the verification exercise in the state to ensure that the beneficiaries are identified as per the notified eligibility criteria of smart ration card scheme.”

Ashu also added, “The beneficiaries will be required to apply in a given format to the respective DCs/sub-divisional magistrates, along with give consent to use Aadhaar Number for Aadhaar-based authentication during process of distribution of foodgrains with electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) machines. At present, approximately 35.26 lakh families are benefiting from the scheme. There are two types of categories covered under this scheme, namely the Priority Household (PHH) and Antodyaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families as mandated in National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.”

According to Government of India, in the state of Punjab, approximately 35-36 lakh families are to be covered under the said scheme. The percentage of coverage in the rural areas will be 54.79% of 2011 population census and 44.83 percent in the urban areas.