Over 40 lakh ghost ration card holders found in Odisha so far: Minister

There are more than 40 lakh ghost ration card holders in Odisha, informed Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra on Friday.

Speaking to the media, Patra said that there are at least 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh ghost beneficiaries in each district across the State.

"During eKYC, it was found that each district has 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh ghost ration card holders. So far, more than 40 lakh ghost ration card holders have been found," Patra said.

"The eKYC process is on and it will take some more days for completion," the Minister stated.

Notably, the Aadhaar-based e-KYC verification was conducted for 2024-25 to bring transparency to the beneficiary list under the food security scheme in Odisha.

Also Read: New beneficiaries to get ration cards from Jan 2025; over 16L ineligible applicants identified so far: Odisha Minister

As per the official data, the Odisha government has received 6,19, 836 applications for new ration cards under the food security scheme in the state. The Odisha government has reportedly fixed 10 parameters for enrollment and issuance of new ration cards. 

Meanwhile, the process is already underway to delete the ghost ration card holders and add the eligible beneficiaries in the state.

Read More: Over 1 lakh ghost ration card holders detected during E-KYC verification in Odisha

Earlier in November, Patra had informed that out of the total 3, 36,35,918 PDS beneficiaries, the e-KYC verification process was completed for 2, 69,23,830 beneficiaries while as many as 1,77, 068 ghost ration card holders were deleted from the list.