Jamshedpur (PTI): The authorities have removed the names of over 50,000 ‘silent’ ration card holders in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum, who did not use their cards for the last six months or more.

According to an official statement, out of the total 1,64,237 silent or inactive ration card holders, the names of 50,323 have been deleted during a verification drive.

While 576 cardholders were found eligible to get the benefits, names of 1,13,338 others are being checked, it said.

On the directive of Deputy Commissioner Karn Satyarthi, a massive drive was on to delete the names of ineligible ration card holders from the list following verification.

The statement said that 20,067 names were removed from urban and rural areas of the district as their Aadhaar card numbers were suspicious. Over 2,500 such ration card holders are being checked.

It said that the authorities deleted 2,274 single-member cardholders who are under 18 years of age or over 100 years, while verification of 13,332 others was underway.

According to the data, the maximum silent card holders were found in the urban area of Jamshedpur (68,565) and Jamshedpur-cum-Golmuri area, where the figure is 46,703

The deputy commissioner said the objective of the verification drive is to ensure that only the bonafide beneficiaries get food grains.

Satyarthi instructed the block level officials to dispose of pending cases speedily.