Bathinda villagers fume over ‘fake’ blue cards
Tuesday, 19/08/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140819/punjab.htm#16
Bathinda : Poor villagers in the constituency of PWD minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon are furious at allegedly being handed given fake blue cards.
These villages fall in the Maur segment and are a part of the Bathinda parliamentary constituency represented by Harsimrat Kaur Badal. The district has 1.99 lakh beneficiaries, the highest in Punjab. Under the blue card scheme, families are given wheat and pulses by the state government.
Sukhjit Singh and Charanjit Singh of Raikahana village said 40 families had been affected. "When we presented the cards to the depot holders, they told us that our names did not figure on the approved lists sent by the Department of Food and Civil Supplies to them."
The cards did not have the signatures of any official or the requisite official stamp. The cards were fake, they were told. Thirty families of Mandi Kalan village also alleged that their cards were bogus. The blue cards carry pictures of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adesh Partap Kairon, but the official endorsements were missing, they said.
Food Supplies Officer Vikas said he had brought the matter to the notice of senior officers.
