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Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Ludhiana: 50k dormant ration card holders to lose benefits
Over 50,000 beneficiaries of the public distribution system in the district will be removed from the list of households eligible for ration as the central government has amended the rules to weed out the users dormant for over the last six months. For the beneficiaries who have been identified as duplicates within or outside the state, their ration cards will be temporarily disabled. (HT Photo) In a notification on July 22, the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution issued an order to amend the Targeted Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2015. 'The state government shall temporarily disable ration cards of beneficiaries who haven't used their entitlements in the last six months,' the order read, adding, 'Thereafter, the state government shall conduct e-KYC by conducting field verification within the next three months to re-evaluate the ration card, determine eligibility and take appropriate action.' 'The users who have not availed the entitlements for over six months will be notified as not eligible for ration (NER),' said Sartaj Singh Cheema, district controller, food and civil supplies (DFSC). In a city like Ludhiana which has a significant migrant population, the problem emerges as people who register here for a while and then go back to their native places. As per the district food and civil supplies department, 52,077 beneficiaries of the public distribution system have not used their ration cards for the last six to 12 months. 'Migrant workers come here and get a ration card and then after some time they leave for home. However their ration cards remain active. New applicants can't get their cards made due to the existing burden. No new ration cards could be made since 2013 due to this,' said Karamjit Singh, state president, All India Fair Price Shop Dealers' Federation. This change, Karamjit said, will not only open the way for new ration cards for the people waiting since 2013 but also facilitate the 15,000 e-Shram card holders to avail the benefits of the public distribution system. E-Shram card holders are labourers who don't have ration cards here but are eligible for benefits under the public distribution scheme. 'Since the system was stretched thin with the number of beneficiaries and the list was not refreshed even after people migrated or died, the new beneficiaries could not be enrolled in the scheme,' he added. The order also calls upon the state government to conduct e-KYC by conducting field verification within the next three months to re-evaluate the ration card, determine eligibility, and take appropriate action. 'If the beneficiaries notified as NERs aren't verified in three months then the state government can take the decision to delete their names from the system as well,' said DFSC Cheema. For the beneficiaries who have been identified as duplicates within or outside the state, their ration cards will be temporarily disabled. They will be given a window of three months to revalidate or prove their eligibility by providing necessary documents and e-KYC. To maintain effectiveness in the system, the new order also asks the state governments to review the list of eligible households every five years for deletion of ineligible households or inclusion of eligible households, and perform mandatory e-KYC. For the issuance of new ration cards and maintaining transparency in the process, the order instructs the state government to use the first-in first-out method and display a waiting list in the public domain, including on the state web-portal, allowing users to track their application status in real-time.
Hindustan Times
12-07-2025
- Hindustan Times
Ludhiana: Ration supply to depot holder halted for ‘fraud'
The district food and civil supplies department has suspended the essential commodity supply to a ration depot holder in Sehjad village in Ludhiana West after he was caught committing 'fraud' in verification of multiple ration card holders using the identity of a single individual, officials said. The malpractice was uncovered during an ongoing eKYC drive aimed at verifying existing beneficiaries under the Centre's 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme. (HT Photo) According to officials, the malpractice was uncovered during an ongoing eKYC drive aimed at verifying existing beneficiaries under the Centre's 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme. They further added that the errant depot holder, identified as Teerath Singh, used the Aadhaar details of one person to carry out verification of several ration card holders. The irregularity came to light during a routine inspection after which a notice dated June 27 was issued to him seeking a written explanation. He didn't respond so he was asked again on July 1 to do so, but to no avail, forcing the department to take action, officials said. According to officials, the suspension has been enforced under gross violation of the Punjab Public Distribution System (Licensing/Control) Order, 2016 and its 2023 amendment for concerns over manipulation and misuse of beneficiary data. When contacted, Sartaj Singh Cheema, district controller, food civil supplies and consumer affairs, Ludhiana West, said, 'We have suspended the ration supply to the depot holder after he was found guilty of manipulating beneficiary records. The action was taken in the exercise of powers under the PDS order. The case has also been forwarded to the legal officer for further action.'
Hindustan Times
23-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Ludhiana: 15K e-Shram card holders in city miss out on free ration
Even as the Supreme Court mandated the inclusion of e-Shram card holders in the Public Distribution System (PDS) and directed states to issue ration cards to them for free ration, nearly 15,000 such workers in Ludhiana district remain excluded from the ongoing quarterly wheat distribution. According to officials of the food supply department, these beneficiaries had completed their e-KYC and were verified to receive 15 kg of wheat per person for three months, to be distributed in May. To meet the anticipated demand, the department had also procured an additional 2,250.3 quintals of wheat during the recent procurement season. However, when ration distribution began on May 16 across the district, the names of these beneficiaries were missing from the updated beneficiary list in the e-Point of Sale (e-PoS) machines managed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). As a result, despite being verified and having received ration cards, these workers were turned away from fair price shops. This gap persists despite a Supreme Court order issued on October 3, 2023, that directed states and Union Territories to integrate nearly 8 crore migrant and unorganised workers registered on the e-Shram portal into the food security net across the country. The apex court had then instructed states to issue ration cards and ensure their e-KYC is completed simultaneously, as reiterated in the Union government's affidavit filed on February 12, 2024. Officials from the food supply department in Ludhiana confirmed that the data of registered e-Shram workers was shared with the food department in May 2024. After this, area-wise surveys were conducted using Aadhaar and UAN details, with the assistance of ration depot holders, to complete the e-KYC of these workers. 'Despite these directives, ration cards issued after the last quarterly cycle are yet to be reflected in the NIC's e-PoS system,' they added. Depot holders are also bearing the brunt of the confusion.'These e-Shram card holders were supposed to get wheat this season. However, their names are still not visible on the e-PoS machines. In the past five days, I have turned away 47 such beneficiaries despite their e-KYC being completed,' said Karamjit Singh Arechha, national assistant secretary and state president of the All-India Fair Price Shop Dealers Federation. Acknowledging the issue, Sartaj Singh Cheema, district food supplies controller (Ludhiana West) stated, 'This is a statewide issue. The NIC has uploaded the data from the last quarter, which excludes recently verified e-Shram beneficiaries. We have already procured the extra wheat and issued ration cards to these individuals. The matter has been escalated to higher authorities. The moment data is updated; they will get their due.'
Hindustan Times
04-05-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
Ludhiana: e-KYC of 3.6 lakh food security beneficiaries pending
Despite the central government extending the deadline for Aadhaar seeding and e-KYC (know your customer) under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to June 30, Ludhiana district still faces a staggering backlog, with around 3,60,526 beneficiaries yet to complete Aadhaar-based verification through e-KYC. According to official data, Ludhiana has the largest number of beneficiaries in the state, with around 18,09,609. Of these, 3,60,526 beneficiaries or nearly 20%, are yet to be verified through e-KYC. The situation is particularly pressing with the quarterly ration distribution scheduled for May, raising concerns about disruptions in access to subsidised food grains. The directive comes as a follow-up to the notification issued on March 21 which mandates all individual beneficiaries to furnish their Aadhaar number or undergo Aadhaar authentication to avail of subsidised food grains under the NFSA. The rule aims to ensure transparency, eliminate duplicate or fake beneficiaries and plug leakages in the public distribution system. Initially, the deadline for Aadhaar seeding was extended multiple times, with the most recent cut-off being March 31. However, during the food secretaries' conference on February 28, the department stressed the need for strict compliance and urged states to complete both Aadhaar seeding and e-KYC by March-end. Despite these directives, the large-scale pendency has forced the Centre to allow one final extension till June 30. District food supplies controller Sartaj Singh Cheema said efforts were underway to verify pending cases through various initiatives. 'We have achieved 81% e-KYC coverage, which is better than the state's average of 78.43%. During the upcoming ration distribution, we will focus on identifying and covering the remaining beneficiaries more effectively,' he said. When asked whether wheat will be given to unverified beneficiaries, Cheema clarified, 'We haven't received any official notification from the department yet. For now, ration will be provided to all existing beneficiaries in the upcoming distribution.'
Hindustan Times
24-04-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
After Supreme Court directive, Over 15k e-Shram card holders in Ludhiana to benefit from ration scheme
The district food supply department has identified over 15,000 e-Shram card holders in Ludhiana to bring them under the Public Distribution System (PDS), said officials. District food supplies controller Sartaj Singh Cheema said 15,002 e-Shram card holders, mostly unskilled labourers and migrant workers, have been identified and will get 5kg free wheat per person in the next quarter. The officials said they received data of registered workers from e-Shram portal in May 2024 and the department began area-wise verification. The department conducted e-KYC verification of each worker's UAN and Aadhaar card details with the help of local ration depot holders. The move comes in response to a Supreme Court directive asking all states and Union territories to issue ration cards to nearly 8 crore e-Shram workers across the country who continued to be excluded from food security schemes. The order was passed on October 3, 2023. The SC ruling came after one Prashant Bhushan, an advocate, filed a petition raising concerns about 'poor implementation' of an earlier top court order dated April 20, 2023. The order had directed states to extend the benefits of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to the marginalised sections, including migrant workers and unorganised sector workers. However, of the 28.6 crore workers registered on the e-Shram portal, only 20.63 crore were linked to ration card databases, the petitioner had alleged. Karamjit Singh Arechha, national assistant secretary and Punjab president of the All India Fair Price Shop Dealers Federation, welcome the move. He said, 'This will benefit vulnerable sections of society who previously had to buy wheat at market prices. Ration depot holders will benefit through increased margins. But the government should have acted earlier without the Supreme Court's push.' On the department's plans to meet the added demand, DFSC Cheema said, 'The procurement season is underway, and we have given a target to mandis across Ludhiana to ensure that enough wheat is procured to meet the demand.'
