Names of 7.48 lakh people removed from ration card list in Odisha: Minister

The Odisha government has excluded the names of 7,48,849 people from the ration card list during the e-KYC verification process conducted across the state, a minister told the Assembly on Wednesday.

Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra, in a written statement to the House, said that since June 2024, 30,125 ineligible ration card  holders, comprising 1,09,853 individuals and 6,38,996 death cases, have been excluded from the ration card database.

Also Read: Odisha to suspend ration cards of 20.58 lakh people for not doing e-KYC verification: Minister

District-Wise Exclusions

As per the reply, the highest 53,964 people have been excluded from the list in Ganjam district due to death, followed by Keonjhar district (46,334), Sundargarh (33,999), Koraput (33,785), Kalahandi (32,663) and Nabarangpur (30,830).

Similarly, a maximum of 10,862 ineligible individuals have been removed from the list in Cuttack district, while 10,577 people have been removed from the free ration scheme in Khurda district.

Legal Grounds and Communication to Applicants

The 'Odisha State Food Security (Targeted Public Distribution System) Rules 2020' clearly explain the exclusion of intending ration card applicants on grounds of income slab.

The ration card applicants and ineligible ration card holders are informed about the reason for exclusion from their respective Ration Card Management System (RCMS) centres functioning in 314 blocks and 64 urban local bodies (ULBS) across the state, the minister said.

Also Read: Ration cards of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis to be revoked: Odisha Minister

PTI