Will only drop ineligible BPL card holders: Karnataka CM on ration row – Times of India

BENGALURU/HUBBALLI: Congress-governed Karnataka will weed out only “ineligible” BPL ration card holders and shift them to above poverty line (APL) cards based on income, CM Siddaramaiah said Sunday. BJP claims the culling will hit the poor and is aimed at sparing resources for the cash-strapped state government’s guarantee schemes.
“Can we continue to retain ineligible card holders when they pay income tax? Can we continue to give BPL cards to government employees? Those who are ineligible will be shifted to APL. The guarantee schemes have different terms and conditions and have nothing to do with weeding out ineligible BPL card holders,” Siddaramaiah said.
Food minister KH Muniyappa trashed BJP’s claims that the state was struggling for funds and said the government had set aside Rs 8,000 crore for Anna Bhagya alone. Each BPL family is entitled to 10kg rice every month under Anna Bhagya, one of the five guarantees implemented by the Siddaramaiah-led government since it took office last year.
According to Muniyappa, Congress government was following the criteria (for BPL cards) set by the previous BJP government, ruling out tweaks or any room for foul play. “We found a lot of BPL card holders are taxpayers. In the south, Karnataka has the highest number of BPL card holders — 4.5 crore — for its 6.5 crore population. We are the only south Indian state with 80% BPL card holders. Hence, a review of eligibility,” Muniyappa said.
Earlier in the day, Union food minister Pralhad Joshi took up the issue, cautioning the poor should not be treated unfairly. Joshi, a Karnataka BJP MP, plans to speak to Muniyappa. He pointed out that the Centre was providing food security to the people with an expenditure of Rs 2.1 lakh crore, including 5kg of free rice to BPL card holders of the state.
“The state government announced 10kg of rice but it failed to deliver on it. They are distributing 5kg of rice given by the Centre. Even 5kg of rice is not given to all. Buses are not plying properly in many parts of the state after Shakti Yojana. Bus drivers and conductors are not paid properly. Even Grahalakshmi Yojana of Rs 2,000 has not reached many women,” Joshi said, referring to the other Congress government guarantees.