Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann claimed on Saturday that the Central government wants the names of more than eight lakh ration card holders in the state to be removed, but his government would not allow it.
Addressing the media, Mann questioned the criteria adopted by the Centre to suggest striking off the names of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act. He said his government recently received a report from the Centre, which said the names of 8,02,493 ration card holders in Punjab under the public distribution system should be deleted as they are no longer eligible for it. “Recently, we received a report from the BJP government at the Centre that 8,02,493 ration cards are being cut. If we consider four members per family, the move will impact at least 32 lakh people in the state," said the CM.
Taking on the BJP government, Mann said, "On one hand they are saying that they want to make the country a ‘Vishwaguru’, but on the other they have become 'ration chor' as well after being 'vote chor'.”
Questioning the criteria adopted for cancelling the names of beneficiaries, the Chief Minister claimed the Centre has said that beneficiaries who have a four-wheeler or a turnover of Rs 25 lakh and have more than 2.50 acres of land are ineligible. Mann asked if a ration card holder gets a government job and shifts to the city from his village, would the rest of his family not get ration. “If a ration card holder has a car, but his brother does not possess one, what is the fault of the rest of the family?” he asked.
Asserting that his government would not let the Centre delete a single ration card, he said, “Till the time Bhagwant Mann is the chief minister, not even a single card will be allowed to be cancelled. There are 1.53 crore beneficiaries in Punjab under the National Food Security Act who are getting wheat, but the BJP says that many of them are fake. We have verified 1.29 crore beneficiaries, and have written to the Centre to give us six months to complete the verification process.”
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