Departments have been asked to amend their welfare schemes accordingly.
Speaking to the media, Civil Supplies Minister Dayanand Mandrekar said the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs has issued an order mentioning that ration cards shall not be used as a document of identity or proof of residence while availing benefits under any government scheme or for any other official purposes.
The department of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affair in a notification issued (copy of which was made available to media) said that in spite of orders given earlier, many departments have been insisting on ration card as identity proof and some have even made it mandatory in their schemes.
“Due to this even person not requiring ration cards are forced to make a card thereby keeping scope for leakages/diversion under public distribution system,” a notification signed by director Vikas Gaunekar, reads.
Pointing to the order issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the government has said that all the departments are requested to abide by the provisions of the ministry.
The departments have been asked to initiate necessary action to amend the various schemes and do away with the requirement of ration card as a document of proof or identity in any of the government schemes or for any other official purposes.
In another decision, the government has empowered taluka inspectors of civil supplies to grant new ration cards and also as authority to make inclusion, deletion of ration cards.
From now onwards, the fees for issuing ration cards will be accepted in the form of Non-Judicial Stamps instead of cash deposit.
As per the Goa Controlled Commodities (Regulation Distribution) Order 1966, payment of fees for issue of new or duplicate ration cards are collected in cash. “However, this process of collecting the fees is cumbersome for ration card holder as well as for administration it is a financial burden due to more collection charges paid to the bank,” Gaunekar said.
