‘Akalis influencing voters by personally issuing ration cards’
Monday, 12/12/2016
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PATIALA (URBAN) MLA SAYS DISTRIBUTION OF CARDS SHOULD BE DONE BY OFFICIALS OF THE CONCERNED DEPT INSTEAD OF COUNCILORS OR LEADERS OF A PARTY.
PATIALA: Patiala (urban) legislator Preneet Kaur shot a letter to local deputy commissioner (DC) complaining that Akali leaders were “personally” distributing blue cards (ration cards) to influence voters. She has also sent a copy of the letter to the chief election officer (CEO) Punjab.
The blue cards enable people from marginal sections to purchase ration at a subsidised rate from public distribution system shops
She said the SAD-BJP government has asked their leaders to disburse the blue cards personally to manipulate the voters for upcoming Punjab assembly polls.
She urged the DC that the distribution of cards for the social welfare schemes should be distributed only by the officials of the concerned department instead of councilors or the leaders of a particular party. She added that these situations lead to controversies.
In June this year, she handed over about 2,000 application forms from various localities of the city for the issuance of blue ration cards to DC.
The former union minister, Preneet, said under the National Food Security Act 2015, the Punjab government had invited applications from eligible candidates for blue cards, but the government adopted a policy of “pick and choose”, depriving hundreds of eligible and deserving candidates from the facility.
She said the government showed that almost 100% applicants were issued blue cards in Bathinda whereas, in Patiala, the majority of the applications were rejected.
