Have ghost beneficiaries led to failure of Food Commission?

Bhubaneswar: The State Food Commission has directed district collectors to delist ghost beneficiaries and include eligible ones in the list at the earliest.

Though two years have passed since formulation of the National Food Security Act, 65,079 eligible families are yet to receive the ration card.

Around 1,00,813 families have applied to get a ration card, stated a letter written by the Food Commissioner Rangalal Jamuda to the Collectors.

Only in Khurda, Cuttack, Puri, Keonjhar and Nuapada, 58,424 families are in the waiting list for an inclusion under NFSA.

The letter mentioned 22,75,000 families whose names are mentioned in the final priority list are yet to get a printed ration card. The Commission has directed the district administration to provide the ration cards by December 31.

Sipra Mallick, member, State Food Commission, said, “Ration card has not reached people whose name is mentioned in the list. Besides, name of ineligible beneficiaries should be excluded at the earliest.”

To find out the ground reality, OTV did a field study and found glaring examples of failure of the NFSA.

Jayanti Beura of Debendrapur village on the outskirts of Baripada town is getting Rs 300 allowance after her husband’s death. But her name is not mentioned in the NFSA beneficiary list.

Beura stated, “Though I applied for a ration card, I am yet to get anything.”

Similarly, Kirtan Naik of Haladiabandh in Dhenkanal who possesses a BPL card has not been able to get a ration card.

Naik said, “I had gone to the block office three or four times, but in vain.”

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