Bokaro district administration is preparing to come down heavily on illegal ration card holders. The district administration has issued an order and appealed the affluent persons to surrender their ration cards issued under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) within the next 30 days otherwise stringent action would be taken against them.

“Last year (2019) a total of 5490 ineligible ration cards under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) were surrendered and deleted following the directive of deputy commissioner. But, a lot of ineligible persons or affluent persons are still having ration cards, despite giving sufficient time to surrender,” said S P Singh, SDM Chas.

Such people must surrender their ration cards at their nearby PDS shops at the earliest. Otherwise, they would be penalized and criminal case will be registered against them, he added.

In order to identify the ineligible ration card holders, a door-to-door inquiry would be conducted; strict disciplinary action will against those people who found with an ineligible card, said the District Supply Officer. A fine of Rs one lakh along with three times market value of the goods, which they purchased from a PDS shop, will be recovered from such ineligible persons, he said. 

There are eight-point guidelines for the ineligible persons of AAY card includes: Any family member having vehicles including two-wheelers, Any family member having business with TIN (taxpayer identification number) or pays Income Tax, Service Tax or Sales Tax, Any member employed with Central or State Government, Family having Air Conditions, Refrigerators or Washing Machine, Family having more than five acres of irrigated land or ten acres of normal land, Family having a three-roomed concrete house, Family having agriculture apparatus running on four wheels were ineligible to get ration AAY cards, informed an official.

The action would also be taken against PDS shopkeepers, giving ration to the affluent people; their license will be cancelled, said the official.