Shreen Hamdani & Mir Arif
As the digitization of ration cards is already under way in some states of India, J&K also direly need to regularize the system of issuing ration card to everyone. On Feb 16, in the wake of unearthing of fraudulent ration card holders in Jammu, the Department of Consumers Affairs and Public Distribution(CAPD) cancelled over 1000 fake ration card in Rajouri District after a routine departmental verification, which detected that huge number of fake ration cards were issued to the non state subjects. The state government was supposed to take stringent action against those individuals who were found involved in such derelictions and handed over such cases further to Crime Branch.
However, the concerned authority seems failed to learn the lessons and check the fake ration card holders till now, in which some of them are unmarried and some of whom are expired many years back, which The Kashmir Scenario has unearthed via investigative disclosure.
Though the Consumers Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department claimed to have taken action to eliminate those illegal ration cards, the circulation of such cards are still flourishing in Baghnah Block , Uri (Baramulla).
Locals of Baghnah, Uri have highlighted this malpractice before the Kashmir Scenario with documental evidence to support that bogus cards are still very much in use in their district Baramulla.
According to documents, there are more than ten cases in which card holders are unmarried and are holding ration cards under APL and AAY categories. Some of their names are as Riyaz Ahmad S/O: Habibullah, Ayaz Ahmad S/O: Farooq Khan, Manzoor Ahmad Khan S/O: Lateef Khan, Aijaz Ahmad S/O: Ghulam Mohammad Najar and Naseem Khan S/O: Ghulam Jeelani Khan.
Well, others do not even exist but are still holding cards under categories of both APL (Above Poverty Level) and AAY(AntyodayaAna Yojana) namely as Mohammad Ashraf S/O: Fateh Khan, Ghulam Mohammad S/O: Noor Mohammad Khan, and AhadNajar S/O: RehmanNajar who have expired since seven, five and ten years respectively.
On account of this mess, the real ration card holders in this block are suffering very badly and they are urging upon the authorities to fix the rot swiftly in an efficient manner.
On the otherhand, it has also been noted with utmost concern that many suppliers of ration depots are usually retaining the ration card of consumers for their own benefits which is highly objectionable and against law.
While speaking to CAPD Director, Mushtaq Ahmad Mir stated that whosoever is involved in this, we will take action against the issue.
“After thorough enquiry we will cancel the ration cards,” said Dr. Sheeba Inayat, CAPD Assistant Director .
Expert voices state that deficiency of human resources is also compounding the problems in CAPD. As a matter of fact, more than 1000 posts are lying vacant in Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department (CAPD) while as there is a shortage of nearly 17,000 Metric Tons (MTs) of Ration in Jammu and Kashmir, the government said in previous Assembly Session replying to a query by NC MLA, Dr. Shehnaz Ganie, Minister for CAPD, Choudary Mohammad Ramzanhad said that 1038 posts are lying vacant in CAPD across Jammu and Kashmir state. These include 220 vacancies in Jammu (170 non-Gazetted, 46 class IV and four gazette posts) and 738 vacancies in Kashmir division (261 in class IV category, 176 in non-Gazetted category and one in Gazetted category). Besides there are 80 posts vacant in the legal metrology department.
The realities are calling upon the authorities to wake up from the slumber and take concrete actions to address the grave issues and especially initiate an enquiry and action against the corrupt officials in the much vital Department like CAPD. Undoubtedly, the digitalization of consumer records can go a long way in checking effectively the prevalent malpractices in the department.