Minister for food and civil supplies DN Jeevaraj on Wednesday declared that 18.24 lakh families falling under the categories of Below Poverty Line and Above Poverty Line would get ration cards by November 15.

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Speaking to reporters, Jeevaraj expressed dismay at the attitude of the officers regarding issuing new ration cards. He said the officers are even trying to misguide him by citing some technical problems in the meetings. “I am disappointed with officers working in five divisions of Bangalore as they are not showing any progress. I have warned them of transfer from Bangalore if they fail to speed up the work,” he said.

Jeevaraj also said that if anyone feels that he is deprived of availing the benefits of ration card, they can approach the department with records and their grievances would be addressed. He was replying to questions on 34 lakh ration cards that were cancelled by the department during the tenure of Shobha Karandlaje.

Jeevaraj expressed happiness over Chikkamagalur officers who are making a good progress in distributing ration cards. “Out of 55,554 applications, 49,231 were cleared after taking samples of biometrics and photographs. In Bangalore Urban district, out of about two lakh applications, only about one lakh applications are cleared. Hence, I am very serious about it,” he explained.

Supply and shortfall

  • 40.52 lakh families are waiting for the transfer of temporary cards to permanent ration cards after giving biometric samples.
  • 18.77 lakh cards distributed
  • Government plans to distribute the rest by November 15
  • 7,787 applications rejected
  • 31 lakh new applications for ration cards received online, of which 11 lakh applicants have been asked to give photographs and biometric samples. Of these, about one lakh people have submitted the documents