Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring has sought clarification from the government on the fate of approximately 2.4 million beneficiaries of the free ration scheme, as the central government has indicated further investigation into these matters.
He stated that when asked in the Lok Sabha about the completion of the verification process for beneficiary information and their certificates, Minister of State for Food and Public Distribution, Nimuben Jayantibhai Bhambhania, stated that Punjab had 15.1 million beneficiaries registered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), against a total of 4,093,003 ration cards.
Warding quoted the minister as saying that the e-KYC of 2,069,338 beneficiaries had not yet been completed. He expressed concern over the delay in the verification process by the Punjab government. He also asked the government why more than two lakh beneficiaries have been excluded from the list, whereas it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that no ineligible person is able to avail the benefit of free ration, and at the same time no eligible person is deprived of this facility.
