Over 5 lakh ration cardholders under scrutiny in Nashik district over eligibility

Nashik: The district supply department has launched Mission Sudhar Abhiyan, a comprehensive drive aimed at verifying over 5 lakh ration cardholders to weed out ineligible beneficiaries availing of subsidised food grains meant for the underprivileged.

As part of the initiative, the scrutiny will be based on 10 specific disqualification criteria and will be carried out primarily through the district’s network of nearly 2,600 ration shops. “The campaign aims to stop subsidised grain distribution to individuals who no longer qualify under welfare norms, including those who pay income tax, own more than 2.5 acres of land or fall into other disqualifying categories,” a senior district supply officer said.

“We have identified about 5.04 lakh beneficiaries whose eligibility will be checked through local fair price shops,” the officer said.

Under the public distribution system, beneficiaries are covered mainly under two schemes — Antyodaya Anna Yojana (yellow ration cards) for the poorest families, and priority household (saffron ration cards) for other eligible low-income households. “The annual income limit for holding these cards is set at Rs 44,000 in the rural areas and Rs 59,000 in the urban parts. It has, however, come to our notice that numerous cardholders with incomes far exceeding these limits have been continuously drawing subsidised grains for years.,” the officer said.

The department has categorised suspected ineligible beneficiaries into 10 groups. The largest segment includes 3.81 lakh cardholders owning more than 2.5 acres of land, followed by 54,948 individuals in higher income tax brackets. Additionally, 28,030 cardholders have not lifted food grains in the last six months, raising concerns over inactive or duplicate entries. “A smaller number, 37 cardholders, were found to own four-wheelers or heavy vehicles, another indicator of ineligibility,” the officer said.

Field verification work has been distributed across the district’s jurisdictions. Niphad has the highest number of cases under scrutiny (48,245), followed by Malegaon (47,150) and Sinnar (44,669). “While the verification process will be conducted at the grassroots level, the final authority to remove ineligible names from the ration card database rests with the respective tehsildars,” the officer said.