Bhadrak: The government has mandated linking of Aadhar with ration cards so as to weed out fake and ghost beneficiaries, but thousands of people in Bhadrak district have not made it yet, a report said.
Following this order, people have been on their toes to link Aadhar with their ration cards while the exercise has struck fear among the fake beneficiaries.
There are 2, 83, 954 beneficiaries under NFSA in the district. Of them, 2, 76,000 have been able to link both the cards till August 13.
However, 7855 ration card holders have not done it.
This exercise has been launched amid routine allegations that thousands of ineligible and non-existent people have managed to enrol under the NFSA and have been enjoying subsidized food stuff, meant for the poor people.
Despite repeated allegations, the district administration had not taken any strong step to weed out the bogus beneficiaries from the NFSA list. Also, there were allegations that even rations are being lifted in the names of some dead people.
Five hundred and six retailers in 218 panchayats have been asked to carry out this Aadhar-ration card linking. The fake beneficiaries were panicked about being exposed and the possibility of recovery of money from them.
Meanwhile, the Civil Supplies Department has revealed that 97 percent of Aadhar-ration card linking has been carried out.
PNN