The Tripura government has identified 62,173 fake ration cards involving 2.81 lakh people after computerization of Public Distribution System.
“As many as 62,173 fake ration cards were identified after computerization. Around 2.81 lakhs people were holding these bogus ration cards,” Tripura food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister Monoj Kanti Deb told mediapersons in Agartala. He added that a large number of them might be Bangladesh nationals.
There are 9,08,212 ration cards belonging to 36,86,216 people under 1,809 ration shops in Tripura.
“Despite thorough inquiry, there is no trace of these 2,81,000 people against whom various commodities were issued through the PDS,” the minister said.
Starting Thursday, masoor dal would also be distributed through the PDS. Currently, rice, flour, sugar, salt and kerosene are being distributed via PDS at a discounted rate.
“With Aadhaar number seeding, the end-to-end computerization of the PDS was completed in Tripura last year,” food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department’s director-cum-secretary Debasis Basu said.
“It is the first state in the Northeast to complete digitalization. All food offices, godowns, fair price shops and related systems have been digitalised,” he added.
