Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has denied allegations that the state authorities has issued orders to cancel Beneath Poverty Line (BPL) ration playing cards for eligible beneficiaries, clarifying that present efforts purpose to weed out ineligible recipients. The clarification comes amid accusations from opposition leaders, who declare that the federal government is unfairly concentrating on the poor.
Talking to reporters in Bagalkot on Sunday, Siddaramaiah addressed considerations surrounding the cancellation of BPL playing cards. “We’re taking steps to weed out ineligible individuals from the pool of BPL card beneficiaries. This step will assist the eligible beneficiaries get all the advantages. We now have discovered that a number of authorities staff and taxpayers have obtained BPL playing cards and haven’t returned them regardless of a number of appeals,” he stated.
He added that no choice to cancel eligible BPL playing cards has been taken. “The division of meals is inspecting a proposal to induce all ineligible individuals to return playing cards or to cancel them. However no ultimate choice has been taken,” he stated.
Responding to a direct question on whether or not the federal government issued orders to cancel BPL playing cards, Siddaramaiah dismissed the query as incorrect. “There isn’t any proposal to cancel BPL playing cards. Who can cancel these playing cards? We’re solely taking steps to see that solely eligible beneficiaries get the advantages. I need to make clear that whereas steps can be taken to cancel BPL playing cards of ineligible individuals, the playing cards of eligible beneficiaries will keep. Our solely concern is that the deserving shouldn’t be disadvantaged of advantages and that authorities advantages shouldn’t be abused by the undeserving,” he stated.
The chief minister’s statements got here within the wake of accusations from BJP leaders, notably former minister and Karkala MLA Sunil Kumar, who criticised the Congress authorities for its dealing with of ration playing cards. Talking in Mangaluru on Saturday, Kumar accused the federal government of cancelling 11 lakh ration playing cards in two months.
“That is the primary time within the historical past of Karnataka that the federal government has cancelled the ration playing cards to such an extent after giving a speech that it’s pro-poor. We’re going to struggle that the ration card shouldn’t be cancelled,” Kumar declared.
He additionally raised considerations concerning the lack of readability on selections affecting districts underneath the Kasturi Rangan report, which incorporates areas reminiscent of Sakleshpur, Belur and Mudigere. “The federal government has not taken a transparent choice until now. That is inflicting issues to individuals’s lives in a giant manner,” he added.
Reacting to the BJP’s criticism, Karnataka meals and civil provides minister KH Muniyappa stated that the revision of ration playing cards was initiated underneath the earlier BJP authorities. “It was the BJP authorities that launched a rule that these paying revenue tax and proudly owning playing cards must be issued with APL playing cards,” he stated.
Muniyappa added, “Karnataka has the very best variety of BPL playing cards in south India. Out of the 6.5 crore inhabitants, now we have issued playing cards to 4.5 crore individuals. Since there was a notion that many ineligible people had BPL playing cards, the BJP authorities itself framed guidelines for revision of ration playing cards.”
He assured that eligible beneficiaries won’t lose entry to subsidies. “There isn’t any scarcity of funds to offer ration within the state. In the course of the revision, those that weren’t eligible for BPL playing cards had been shifted to APL. Nevertheless, purposes for APL playing cards weren’t cancelled. Not a single APL card has been revoked,” Muniyappa stated.
He added that whereas subsidies for APL cardholders had been briefly halted attributable to underutilisation, they may resume upon completion of the revision. “APL card holders had been offered meals grains at subsidised charges, however many didn’t utilise the profit. Subsequently, subsidies for APL cardholders have been briefly stopped. As soon as the revision is full, if APL cardholders request subsidies, we will certainly present them,” he stated.
Siddaramaiah additionally addressed claims by opposition chief R Ashok that the BJP had been cleared of allegations of taking a 40% fee on authorities contracts in the course of the Basavaraj Bommai administration. He stated that the investigation was initiated based mostly on a grievance from D Kempanna, president of the State Contractors’ Affiliation.
“When an accused is launched attributable to lack of proof, it doesn’t imply that the homicide has not been dedicated. It might imply that the witnesses didn’t depose correctly earlier than the courts,” the CM stated.
Siddaramaiah reiterated his allegation that the BJP tried to poach 50 Congress MLAs by providing ₹50 crore every. “They tried to engineer such defections, however failed,” he stated.
