PONDA: Government servants availing free ration from fair price shops has angered Above Poverty Line (APL) ration card holders.
After lockdown to stop the spread of COVID 19, the government had announced free ration for three months to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AYY) and Priority House Hold (PHH) card holders.
However, many government employees are obtaining free ration quota under PHH ration card. This has angered APL card holders who feel that why they are denied free ration when the government employees are provided the same.
AAY card holders are provided 30 kg of rice at Rs 3 per kg; PHH cardholders are also provided rice at Rs 3. However, some government servants, drawing huge salaries, are also enrolled under PHH category.
In the past, the department of civil supplies and consumer affairs had asked those possessing PHH cards, but are not eligible for it, including government servants, to surrender their cards. However, many government servants have not surrendered their cards.
Sandesh Naik, holding APL card, said that he is surprised to see that many government servants are in queue to obtain free ration quota. He claimed that when he had gone to get ration from a fair price shop at Ponda, he had noticed many ineligible beneficiaries, including government servants holding PHH cards.
In Ponda taluka, there are 41 fair price shops with around 40,000 ration card holders. Of whom, 1203 are AAY card holders; 17036 are PHH card holders; 19211 are APL card holders; and 20 are Annapurna card holders.
Minister for civil supplies was not reachable for his comments on government servants getting free ration under public distribution system.
