Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 12: The J&K RTI Movement has claimed that free ration meant for poor consumers has been sold in black-market in many areas and officials misled consumers that their name was not Aadhaar linked on the online portal of Food Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) Department.
In a handout Chairman RTI Movement, Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat said, in many areas of Budgam and Srinagar, the storekeepers of FCS&CA are denying free and routine ration to several poor consumers mostly under BPL, AAY and PHH categories.
“These consumers are told that their name has been deleted from online portal due to non-linking with Aadhaar card. In some cases people who are alive were told that they are dead and the same poor consumers are forced to get subsidized and free ration at very exorbitant rates,” he claimed.
“Our team met one Ali Jahara from Goggee Pathri, Budgam having AAY ration card but he was told by the storekeeper that his name has been deleted in view of his death. The poor consumer kept requesting the storekeeper that he was alive and got ration for Rs 1000 which he was supposed to get for Rs 150 only,” Bhat maintained adding that he recorded the video statement of Jahara.
“Our team led by our District Coordinator Budgam, Mushtaq Ahmad Lone cross-checked the details of many consumers on the online portal and found Ali Jahara and his wife’s names are Aadhaar linked. There were more than a dozen similar cases in the same village plus in some other areas,” the RTI activist said. He said that even in Dara Harwan, Srinagar they exposed similar fraud and brought the matter into the notice of Commissioner Secretary FCS&CA who assured action against erring officials.
RTI Movement has appealed the government to hand over corruption cases in public distribution system to Anti Corruption Bureau so that the whole nexus is exposed and dismantled.
Follow our WhatsApp channel