LG should order a probe into why ration cards have not been allotted to 14.64 lakh applicants, and not just 90,000, and criminal cases should be filed against those found guilty—Haroon Yusuf

 

Aam Aadmi Party has neither given ration nor the amount in lieu to the accounts of the Annashree beneficiaries under the Food Security Act—Alok Sharma

 

NEW DELHI, October 16, 2024—Former Delhi Food and Civil Supplies Minister Shri Haroon Yusuf demanded that the Lt. Governor order a probe into  why the Aam Aadmi Party Government had not allotted ration cards to 14.64 lakh applicants and not just 90,000, and  criminal cases should be filed against the Ministers/leaders/officials found guilty of denying the poor ration goods as the Kejriwal Government  had not allotted a single ration card in the past 11 years.

 

Addressing a press conference at the DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan here today, along with AICC spokesperson Shri Alok Sharma, Shri Haroon Yusuf said that when Congress left power in Delhi in 2013, there were nearly 35 lakh ration card holders, and the number has now come down to nearly half, as the Kejriwal Government deliberately did not allot even a single new ration card, though every year Delhi’s population goes up by 4-5 lakhs. He said that in the past 10 years, Delhi’s population has reached nearly 2.5 crore, out of which 40 per cent are poor who are eligible for subsidized ration.

 

Shri Haroon Yusuf said that when the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre passed the Food Security Act in 2012-13, it was intended to benefit 72 lakh ration card holders in Delhi, who would be provided  food grains at subsidized rate, like I kg of wheat for Rs 2 and 1 kg of rice for Rs 3, and those who do not have ration cards would be given Rs 600 per head and Rs 4800 per family for them to purchase ration items, and under this Annashree scheme, 2 lakh people were deriving the benefits, but the Kejriwal Government did not make even a single beneficiary under the Annashree scheme, as the number should  have gone upto 4 lakh, and not just 90,000 people for which the LG has ordered a probe, as the beneficiaries under this scheme would have been people below the poverty line. He said that as per the Food Security Act, any person who is entitled to get a ration card is entitled to receive a food security allowance from the State Government, but the AAP Government did not deliberately implement this scheme.

 

AICC spokesperson Shri Alok Sharma said that ration supply was  one of the biggest scams in Delhi as the Kejriwal Government was throttling the poor to snatch their subsidized foodgrains to be given to hoarders and black marketeers for which both the Central Government and the Kejriwal Government were guilty. He said that the Modi Government claims to provide free ration to 80 crore people in the country, and the Delhi Government robs the poor to give their ration material to profiteers. He said that Delhi boasted of 2400 ration shops in 2015, and in the past 10 years, the number has come down to a mere  500, which was a clear proof that the poor were being denied their free ration. He said that there 35 lakh ration card holders when Congress was in power, and the number has now come down to just 17.83 lakh under the AAP Government.