Thiruvananthapuram: In a major crackdown, the government has exposed a whopping 1,70,470 families which owned houses having an area of over 1,000 sq. ft., but still possessed priority ration cards.
An inspection carried out by Food and Civil Supplies Department jointly with the Local Administration Department found that 1,51,111 families had concealed the fact that they had houses over 1,000 sq. ft., while 19,359 families submitted false information regarding their residence to obtain Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) cards. According to the Food Security Act, people owning houses above 1,000 sq.ft. area are not eligible for priority ration cards and AAY cards.
A Food Department official told Manorama Online that the figures released now were provisional and that the final list would be prepared only after inspections at houses. Majority of the violations have been reported from Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.
Government employees, car owners, those having houses above 1,000 sq ft and land in excess of one acre, teachers, staff of public sector enterprises, people earning more than Rs 25,000 and income tax payers are ineligible to be priority card holders. The drive was launched after the government realized that thousands of families were claiming undue benefits using the cards.
Earlier, it had been revealed that 37,429 people in the priority list owned four-wheelers. As many as 4,342 of these card holders were covered under AAY. After the government cracked the whip, 43,396 government employees opted out of the priority list.
In Kerala, there are 80.18 lakh valid rations cards.
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