Amarinder alleges ‘selective’ process in issuing blue cards
Sunday, 15/05/2016
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=156856&boxid=59446&uid=&dat=2016-05-15
Chandigarh : Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Amarinder Singh on Saturday alleged a ‘selective and discriminatory’ process was adopted in issuing ‘blue (rations) cards’ to people for subsidised food under the National Food Security Act. He said the blue cards must be issued without any discrimination to all deserving people living below poverty line ( BPL) and not on the basis of the colour of their turban. Amarinder also issued a stern warning to all the officials involved in the process that they can flout the rules at their own risk.
“Be fair and just in issuing the blue cards and if you do it merely at the behest of Akalis, let me make it clear to you that you will have to account for it within less than a year,” he warned, adding, “the process should be simple and accessible to all the deserving”. In a statement issued here, the former Chief Minister claimed that the SAD-BJP government had asked all the deputy commissioners to allow registration of 2,000 blue ration cards for each assembly constituency, as recommended by the ‘halqa incharge’ or the concerned MLA of the ruling alliance.
“The halqa incharge/MLAs have virtually been given absolute authority to issue the cards with obvious intent,” he alleged. “All rules and regulations have been thrown to the winds as applications on prescribed proforma are collected by the halqa incharge/MLAs and are handed over directly to the DC concerned,” the PCC president alleged while adding, “no verification is done and selective and pliable officials are called to verify and cards are being released in bits and pieces”. “Why is it mandatory to wear a blue turban to get a blue card?” Amarinder asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal while referring to the alleged partisan means adopted by the government to implement the central government’s scheme for facilitating the supply of highly subsidised food items to the people living below the poverty line in the state.
