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| Ration worth millions sold in black market | | Ration cards on sale | |
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Feb 6: In absence of maintenance of proper inventory and index of ration tickets in the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department (CAPD) of the valley, a nexus of issuing fake ration cards is running in valley with every ticket being sold for a hefty sum.
According to departmental sources, with no indexing and sequential numbering of the ration cards available in the department, huge quantities of rations are being sold in the black market against coupons from fake ration tickets submitted to higher authorities by the employees manning the outlets across the valley.
"We tried to identify the fake ration coupons, but due to non-availability of indexes against which they could have been validated, it was impossible for us to segregate the genuine ones from the fake ones. As a result the ghat munshis show utilization of full quota of ration, despite thousands of ration card holders not availing ration supplies", said a senior official at the CAPD department. Since the tickets were earlier printed at the government press, there was complete record of their issuance and complete indexes were maintained but now since the Bank has been providing free ration cards to the department, there is no way to track them, the sources said. "We come across ration tickets with serial numbers from 20,000 to 30,00,000 which is impossible in view of the fact that valley has only 10 lakh ration card holders. It is quite evident that many of the cards have been faked and issued to consumers", the sources added.
"Earlier the paper used for printing the ration tickets was of a special type which was not available freely in the market, however, now anyone can get the ration tickets printed since ordinary paper is used for printing the cards", the officials claimed.
Even the lower functionaries of the department have defied several government orders asking them to submit details and indexes of ration card holders in their respective units. "We issued at least 20 letters to TSOs in the Srinagar city to provide us with lists and indexes of consumers but despite passage of two years, no records are being made available to us", said a senior official of the CAPD department. He said there was tacit understanding at various levels in the department for not providing the lists which would make them more accountable and uncover their misdeeds.
In an attempt to cover up the running scam, the records pertaining to 2006 to 2009 period with regard to the ration tickets have been destroyed by the officials without any audit or verification of the records pertaining to the period. "No official records can be destroyed unless they have been verified and properly audited by competent authorities", sources in the department told ET.
Meanwhile, according to sources, fake ration cards are being sold in the market for thousands of rupees to consumers who need the tickets for purposes other than getting rations.
They said the ration tickets are being used by rich and influential people for illegally taking benefit of various schemes meant for Below Poverty Line people and other weaker sections of the society. "Many well off people are getting land and other valuable assets from the government by obtaining fake BPL and AAY ration tickets on highly subsidized rates", the sources said adding the ration tickets were being sold at exorbitant prices in the market. "Many non-state subjects have been able to get state subject certificates issued through these ration tickets. Many people also use them for opening benami bank accounts to hide the black money and hawala transactions", the sources informed.
When contacted, a senior official of the department said that a committee has been framed by the department to look into the ration card issuance and usage matter. He said two Assistant Directors and one Accounts officer in the committee have been directed to probe the matter and submit a report to the department. |
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