Lucknow, Feb 24 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana on Friday directed the state government to cancel ration cards issued to ineligible people after an inquiry.
The issue was raised by Samajwadi Party MLA Abhay Singh from Gosaiganj constituency in Ayodhya during the Question Hour.
The Speaker issued the direction after the MLA said that he was not satisfied with Minister Laxmi Narayan Choudhary’s reply on the matter raised by him.
The SP MLA asked whether the government was aware of the delay in the issuance of new ration cards in the state by officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department.
He also wanted to know from the government how many new ration cards have been issued in Ayodhya district from 2018 to 22 December 2022 and how many applications are pending.
A written reply to the member’s questions came from the Chief Minister. It was told that against the applications received between April 1, 2018 and December 2022, a total of 1,33,03,625 ration cards have been issued in the state.
A total of 1,44,628 ration cards have been issued in Ayodhya district against the applications received during this period and currently only 658 ration card applications are pending.
The number of pending ration cards at the state level is 13,31,130.
Raising a supplementary question, Singh said that many ineligible people were issued ration cards while the needy did not have them.
“Will the government get this investigated?” He asked.
In his reply, Minister Chaudhary said that if he has any specific complaint, it will be investigated.
Expressing dissatisfaction over this, Singh said that it is a statewide problem, after which the speaker asked the minister to conduct a general inquiry into it and cancel the ration cards issued to ineligible people.
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