BANGALORE, August 10, 2014
The Food and Civil Supplies Department will suspend the supply of kerosene from this month to 12.5 lakh ration cardholders who did not get their cards renewed by submitting EPIC (voter’s ID) or Aadhaar number.
Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Dinesh Gundu Rao told reporters on Saturday that these 12.5 lakh cardholders, included 3.5 lakh people who were issued cards before 2010.
To weed out bogus ration cards, the department made it mandatory for those who were issued cards before 2010 to get them renewed before August 15 by submitting the EPIC number. He said the supply of foodgrains would, however, continue for all cardholders.
“We will revoke the kerosene suspension if the cardholders submit the details before September 15. If they do not submit the details even after that, we will cancel the cards,” the Minister said.
Data duplication
Mr. Rao said the 12.5 lakh cards, included those issued to families whose biometrics had been duplicated, those that had a head of the family aged below 18 years, urban families who have not submitted residential address and Revenue Register (RR) number of their electricity connection, and urban families who have not submitted EPIC or Aadhaar numbers.
He said EPIC number of at least one family member would suffice. “More than 90 per cent of families have been issued EPIC,” he said.