Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has decided to relax the norms for issue of ration cards under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) Order for the beneficiaries covered under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
Informing this to the media persons after the State Cabinet meeting here today, chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said the Cabinet gave approval for two amendments to the NFSA Order to facilitate the waiver of the exclusion criterion for these categories of beneficiaries.
“As per the amendments, beneficiaries who have been covered under IAY, BPGY and PMAY have been exempted from the exclusion criteria under NFSA so that they can be included as NFSA beneficiaries. The second amendment made to this order is that the state government has decided to offer a general amnesty up to September 30 for ineligible beneficiaries, who have been removed from the NFSA list, to return their cards. The money collected by the state government as penalty for fraudulently obtaining rations cards would be returned to them during the period. The announcement to this effect has already been made by the Food Supply and Consumer Welfare minister two days back,” he said.