Jajpur: Food grains worth over Rs 200 crore under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and the State Food Security Act (SFSA) have been allegedly siphoned off by way of 2 lakh bogus ration cards in Jajpur district in 2020.
A case (LY-123/2021) has been registered with the Lokayukta in this connection. Based on the complaint, Lokayukta Justice Ajit Singh has issued directions for action.
However, the direction has not yet been carried out by the Odisha State Civil Supply Corporation (OSCSC) and Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department.
The manager (law) of the OSCSC has directed the civil supplies officer for compliance at least five times but to no avail.
The manager (law) has stated that he has not received any reply from any civil supplies officers (CSOs) in the state, except for those in Boudh, Angul, Jagatsinghpur and Sundargarh.
The complaint with the Lokayukta stated that the state government had supplied five kg of rice or wheat free of cost to 95 lakh families under the NFSA and SFSA during the lockdown necessitated by the pandemic.
Besides this, the Centre had supplied five kg of rice or wheat free of cost under the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) between April 2020 and June 2020.
The Chief Minister had announced to pay Rs 1,000 to every ration card holder April 6, 2020. The state government has released Rs 955 crore to 95 lakh ration card holders in the state.
However, information received through an RTI revealed that out of the total money received from the government, Rs 20,56,38,436 was returned to the government. This had resulted from non-identification of 2,05,638 beneficiaries.
An investigation into the matter has revealed that supply departmental officers in cahoots with the dealers have siphoned off food grains meant for 2,05,638 beneficiaries under the NFSA and SFSA.
The question is if the 2,05,638 beneficiaries could not be identified for payment of Rs 1,000 each, how could food grains under NFSA and SFSA be distributed to them?
Food grains worth over Rs 200 crore could have been returned to the government, which has not been done, the complaint said.
Financial assistance of Rs 40,58,122,90 had come to Jajpur. Out of this, utilisation certificates (UCs) of Rs 39,63,10,000 have been submitted. The balance Rs 95,02,290 was returned to the government.
From this, it was estimated that Jajpur district has 9,500 bogus ration cards.
Similarly, Ganjam has 29,000 bogus ration cards, Bolangir 13,000 and Khurda district has 20,000 bogus ration cards. According to the secretary to the Lokayukta, the CSOs are yet to respond to OSCSC letters dated 6/5/2021. 17/05/2021, 2/6/2021, 8/6/2021 and 18/06/2021.
PNN
