Govt moves to weed out 84k ineligible NFSA beneficiaries in six dists

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has ordered Collectors of six districts in the State to identify as many as 83,948 ineligible beneficiaries under National Food Security Act (NFSA) and accommodate eligible applicants.

In a letter, the Food and Civil Supplies department has asked ‘in case of necessity to enroll genuine beneficiaries under NFSA, it should be ensured that ineligible beneficiaries should be detected from the final priority list (FPL) and excluded first to accommodate further enrolment.’

“In no case enrollment in excess of the district target allocated under NFSA would be allowed,” it noted.

While the highest of 24, 216 excess enrollments has been detected in Malkangiri district, the number stands at 20, 517 in Boudh district and 13,490 in Gajapati district.

The number of additional enrollments in Dhenkanal and Kalahandi districts is 7,688 and 5,334 respectively.

“We have asked the Collectors to verify and crosscheck the final list of beneficiaries and remove the ineligible individuals. No eligible beneficiary should be out of the list,” Food and Civil Supplies minister Sanjay Dasburma said.

The letter stated that new ration cards will not be issued against excess population enrolled under NFSA.