CM Siddaramaiah directs officials not to cancel ration cards of poor families
Bengaluru (PTI): Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday instructed the Food Department officials not to cancel the ration cards of poor families.
The order follows controversy over reports that over 22.6 lakh Below the Poverty Line (BPL) cardholders were deemed ineligible.
The chief minister ordered that if the ration cards of any family other than government employees and income tax payers are cancelled, they should be returned immediately, the Chief Minister's Office said in a statement.
"The chief minister has warned that action will be taken against the Food Department officials if the ration cards of poor families are cancelled without any reason," it added.
Official sources said the Karnataka government has identified 22.63 lakh ineligible BPL card holders in the state as it decided to revise the list.
They said the state did a survey of BPL cardholders in August this year, which revealed that there are 22,62,482 ineligible BPL cardholders. Now the government is contemplating cancelling them.
Fear loomed large over withdrawal of many benefits given to lakhs of families including 10 kg food grains to each member of the family every month under the Anna Bhagya scheme.
There were apprehensions that the women head of the BPL families availing Rs 2,000 a month under the Congress guarantee Gruha Lakshmi scheme may be withdrawn.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister K H Muniyappa told reporters in Kolar that all the southern states do not have BPL cardholders more than 50 per cent.
"In Karnataka, which is second most tax revenue generating state after Maharashtra, there cannot be 75 to 80 per cent BPL card holders. So we have to cancel them," Muniyappa said.
He, however, clarified that the government was not cancelling the cards but only converting them from BPL to Above Poverty Line (APL) cards.
According to the minister, those in government jobs, paying income taxes or those whose annual income is above Rs 1.2 lakh are ineligible for BPL cards.
This move gave the opposition BJP a new weapon to target the ruling Congress in the state.
The party led by the Opposition leader in the Karnataka Assembly R Ashoka, former Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan and K Gopalaiah, took out a march in the city visiting houses of the BPL families. Later, they staged a demonstration against the government move.
A BPL card holder told reporters in Bengaluru that she got to know that her ration card has been cancelled after she went to a government run ration shop.
She was worried that her newborn daughter would not get the Karnataka government's welfare programme for girl child and get her educated.
Reports poured in from various parts of the state where people from the economically weaker section expressed their shock and dismay over the government's move.
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Vinod Tawde seeks apology from Kharge, Rahul through legal notice, warns of defamation lawsuit
Cash-for-vote row
New Delhi, Nov 22: BJP leader Vinod Tawde has demanded an apology from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for making "false and baseless" allegations against him in the cash-for-votes incident in Maharashtra, saying if they don't he would sue them for defamation.
Tawde was accused by Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, a regional party, of distributing Rs 5 crore to woo voters, with its members barging into a hotel room on November 19 in a Mumbai suburb, where the BJP leader was present.
The former Maharashtra minister and BJP national general secretary claimed innocence, saying the alleged amount was not recovered in the probe by the Election Commission and police.
"The Congress only believes in spreading lies, and this incident is a proof of the party's low level politics to dent me and my party's image," Tawde said.
The two Congress leaders and the party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate seized on the row to accuse the BJP of using money power to influence the November 20 assembly polls in the state.
The legal notice sent to the three claimed that they were aware that they were pushing a "totally false story fabricated" by them.
"You all have deliberately, mischievously with the sole intention of damaging the reputation of our client intentionally fabricated the story distribution of money. You all have published false, baseless allegations against our client on various media for tarnishing his image in the eyes of right thinking people in the society," the notice read.
The Congress leaders were in a "great hurry" to damage Tawde's reputation, they did not bother to check the fact and or despite knowing the entire fact they made the false, baseless allegations, it said.
"The entire imputation made by you all are totally false, baseless, malicious and mala fide and as our client is in no way involved in any such illegal activity and as a responsible office bearer of the national political party he is aware of his duties," it added.
The notice demanded an "unconditional apology" to Tawde within 24 hours from the time the receipt of the notice, which was sent on November 21, and published in newspapers and X.
If they do not offer apology, then Tawde will initiate criminal proceedings under Section 356, which covers defamation, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and also civil proceedings for the damages of Rs 100 crore against the three Congress leaders, the notice said.
