He, however, told the officials during a review meeting of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department that the card of a single eligible BPL cardholder should not be cancelled.

Ineligible BPL ration cardholders should be given time to voluntarily return their BPL cards, after which action should be taken to cancel the cards by giving notice to them, the Chief Minister was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his office.

Nearly 4,000 government employees have already been removed from the list, the statement said.

It said that there are 1,53,69,945 ration cards in the state, with 5,30,88,636 member beneficiaries.

It further said that Rs 4,692 crore grant has been released under the Annabhagya scheme direct cash transfer, and Rs 3,253 crore has been spent till the end of October. Over, 4.44 crore beneficiaries are benefiting from the scheme, which is one of the five pre-poll guarantees of the Congress government.

Siddaramaiah also reviewed the status of petrol pumps in the state.

The Chief Minister’s office said there are a total of 4,518 petrol pumps in the state, and 503 petrol stations have been inspected till the end of December.

Siddaramaiah directed the officials that the inspection of petrol pumps should be increased and irregularities like fraud in measurement and quality should be completely curbed.

The CM also asked the officials to make arrangements to procure food grains at the minimum support price and steps should be taken to complete all the processes quickly so that farmers do not face any problems.

Under the One Nation One Ration Card scheme, 13,383 beneficiaries from other states are getting ration facilities in Karnataka.

Under the Anna-Suvidha Yojana, food grains are provided at the doorstep of single-person households above 80 years of age and 8,500 ration card holders are benefiting under the scheme, the statement said.

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