Chhatrapur: The district administration has pulled up its sleeves to weed out bogus and ghost beneficiaries under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) in Ganjam district by conducting door-to-door verification, a report said.
The issue came up for probe after allegations of lifting of rice in the names of bogus and dead persons under the scheme surfaced.
Antyodaya ration card is issued to those households which fall under the ‘poorest of poor’ category. Beneficiaries having this card are entitled to 35kg food grain every month.
Reports said several people lacking eligibility have managed to get a card and are lifting rice and other items under the food security scheme. Such people are allegedly found in abundance in Berhampur town, various blocks, NACs and municipality areas.
As a result, many real and actual beneficiaries have been deprived of the benefits of the scheme while bogus and ghost beneficiaries siphon off the rice and food stocks.
Expressing concern, the district Food Supplies department in a letter directed all the block development officers (BDOs), executive officers of all municipalities and notified area councils (NACs) and the Commissioner of Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) asking them to form teams and conduct door-to-door verification of bogus and dead beneficiaries.
The teams will visit the houses of the beneficiaries listed under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana and weed out the names of bogus and dead beneficiaries after verification.
The teams will also include the name of actual and deprived beneficiaries as per the government guidelines after removing the names of the bogus and dead beneficiaries.
The matter came up before the district administration during the public hearing and Dibyang Samadhan camps of the district Collector.
Several allegations were made before the district Collector in these camps about the bogus and dead beneficiaries receiving rice and food stocks under the food security scheme in the district.
In past, the district Collector had directed the concerned BDOs, executive officers of civic bodies and the commissioner of BeMC to weed out the bogus and dead beneficiaries. However, the order of the Collector has received little success due to intervention of public representatives.
