Govt detects over 2.16 crore bogus ration cards

New Delhi: As many as 2.16 crore bogus ration cards have been detected and around Rs 13,000 crore, which would have otherwise been diverted, would now be available for the beneficiaries, the government said on Tuesday.

Minister of State for Consumer Affairs CR Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha that in 34 states and union territories, about 60 percent of the ration cards have been linked with Aadhaar.

During Question Hour, he said that as many as 2.16 crore fake, bogus or duplicate ration cards have been detected.

Around Rs 13,000 crore, which would have otherwise been diverted, would now go to the beneficiaries.

The government has completed digitisation of ration cards, he said.

Responding to a query on concerns about adulteration of milk, Chaudhary said it was “really a problem” and steps were being taken to deal with adulteration.

Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the government has already moved a Bill to amend the Consumer Protection Act, which is many decades old.

In a written reply, Paswan said the grant is given from Consumer Welfare Fund (CWF) to the states and union territories for setting up the corpus fund of Rs 10 crore towards undertaking consumer awareness activities.

Centre provides 75 percent share of the corpus fund and the rest is taken care of by the state. In the case of special category states/union territories, the funding ratio is 90:10.

“So far, corpus fund has been set up in 11 states/union territories viz. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Nagaland, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, and Haryana,” the Minister said.