New Delhi, Feb 3 (IANS) Delhi BJP legislator Harish Khurana on Tuesday urged Chief Minister Rekha Gupta to release a white paper on ration distribution over the past 10 years, claiming the exercise was required to expose the irregularities under the previous Arvind Kejriwal government.
Khurana also mounted a strong attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over faulting the ongoing ration card verification drive, accusing the Opposition party of running a decade-long racket that deprived genuine beneficiaries of their rightful entitlements.
The Moti Nagar legislator dismissed AAP’s allegations as a “deliberate attempt to mislead the public”, adding that people of Delhi are well aware of how ration cards were issued to ineligible families between 2015 and 2024.
Khurana said the AAP leaders must disclose how many Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators were issued ration cards during their party’s tenure.
“Some jobless opposition leaders are trying to manufacture fake narratives, but the people of Delhi know how ration cards were indiscriminately issued during AAP’s rule,” he said.
The BJP MLA said official data shows that 9,22,766 applications for ration cards were submitted in Delhi between 2014 and 2024.
“For nearly 10 years, ration cards were issued without any meaningful verification. The moment the process was subjected to scrutiny, large-scale irregularities surfaced,” Khurana added.
He said the Rekha Gupta-led government ordered a review of the ration card system in line with Government of India norms, which exposed serious violations: 2.02 lakh ration cards were found to be suspicious (7.07 L beneficiaries); 6,038 cards were issued in the names of deceased individuals; 16,000 duplicate ration cards were detected and over 1.44 lakh cards were held by individuals earning more than Rs 6 lakh annually, despite the scheme being meant exclusively for the needy and people from marginalised sections.
“If those earning over Rs 6 lakh are drawing subsidised ration, the needy people are bound to be pushed out,” he said.
The MLA further stated that the verification exercise revealed 2.76 lakh beneficiaries were sent notices via SMS, but only 227 responses have been received so far.
He said the BJP government’s verification drive showed that 1.59 lakh cardholders own land; 77,000 beneficiaries are vehicle owners; 2,700 ration cards were issued to GST holders with turnovers exceeding Rs 25 lakh, and 16,064 duplicate ration cards were linked to beneficiaries in other states.
“People owning land, cars and even holding positions as company directors were declared ‘poor’ to corner benefits. This is the real face of the AAP model,” Khurana alleged.
Rejecting claims that Food Supply Offices (FSOs) were being shut, Khurana said the re-verification process is being carried out strictly under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) through district-level committees headed by District Magistrates.
“Not a single FSO office has been closed. All offices are fully functional. No ration card has been cancelled so far, and no eligible beneficiary will be denied foodgrains. Every cardholder is being given adequate opportunity to establish eligibility,” he added.
–IANS
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