‘Flaw’ in ration card policy
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 20 — Due to a 'flaw' in the UT policy in issuing ration cards, any one from any part of the country already possessing a ration card, can get another one in the city just by producing his photo identity card issued by the Election Commission.

The duplication of ration cards due to this flaw has led to almost 45 per cent increase in the number of ration cards issued by the Chandigarh Administration.

In most places, including the neighbouring satellite towns of SAS Nagar and Panchkula, a fresh ration card is issued to an applicant only when he produces a surrender or deletion certificate. But in Chandigarh a new ration card can be issued on the production of the voter I-card alone. As a result of this policy, a number of people tend to get more than one ration cards and to misuse these for availing benefits, including getting more than one house or tenement allotted to them under various government schemes.

In an effort to end the misuse of ration cards, the Home Secretary had issued a notification In January, 1998, specifying that the family ration card should not be treated as a proof of residence or identity. Yet the notification has largely been proving to be ineffective, which is evident from the swelling number of new ration cards being made by people, officials said.

The officials maintain that the floating population was increasingly resorting to such misuse. "Actually, what they do is to retain their ration cards in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar and make more such cards in the Union Territory to be eligible for different benefits," said the official.

The notification also said the voter I-cards issued by the Election Commission should be considered as proof of residence under different government schemes and programmes. A decision to this effect was eventually taken following the misuse of ration cards for multiple purpose such as for getting passport, gas connection, driving licence, opening of bank accounts etc .

Sources reveal that ever since the policy was reviewed in 1998, the facility of issuance of ration cards on the basis of the voter I-card has increasingly been misused by the floating population, resulting in a situation where the quota of PDS ration for the Union Territory has remained the same and the number of cards has increased from 600 to 1100 a month.

If the situation persists the Chandigarh Administration will have no option but to reduce the per unit allocation of sugar from 600 grams to 300 grams, said officials who said the only solution was a national-level policy where states should grant new ration cards at other places only after obtaining surrender or deletion certificates.