Over 20,000 Odisha Govt Employees Surrender Ration Cards

Bhubaneswar: Following the Odisha government’s warning to ineligible beneficiaries availing PDS items, more than 20,000 of its employees have surrendered their ration cards.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Krushna Chandra Patra, Minister of Food Supplies and Consumer welfare said within two days of the announcement by the government to take action against ineligible PDS beneficiaries, 12,000 its employees surrendered their ration cards. Their number reached 20,000 on Friday, he added.

“In a move to clean the public distribution system of corruption and illegal practices, we have launched e-KYC to identify the illegal beneficiaries on August 22 last year. Before starting it, we had warned the ineligible beneficiaries to surrender their cards, failing which they would face stern action,” he said.

“The contractual employees in government jobs, who are getting monthly remuneration of Rs 11,000 to Rs 12,000, are exempted from the order. Similarly, other employees drawing salary of this amount are also exempted. But those in higher posts must return their cards,” he added.

As per the National Food Security Act (NFSA), people having monthly income of Rs 15,000 or above, should not avail the PDS items and hence surrender their ration cards. The government has set January 31 as the last date for such beneficiaries to surrender their ration cards, Patra said.

After the e-KYC process is over by February 15, the government would start issuing new ration cards to all eligible beneficiaries, he added.