[Reader-list] 30 lakh bogus ration cards detected in TN

[Taha Mehmood]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/30_lakh_bogus_ration_cards_detected_in_TN/articleshow/2973764.cms

 The Times of India Chennai Edition

30 lakh bogus ration cards detected in TN
23 Apr 2008, 0410 hrs IST, T K Rohit, TNN

CHENNAI: Corruption in the public distribution system is nothing new. But
for the first time, the government has proof that a whopping 30 lakh -
of the two crore ration cards in the state - are bogus. This works out to a
more than Rs 300-crore loss for the government, about 15% of the Rs
1,900-crore food subsidy it doles out every year from the taxpayer's money.

The state-run Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu, which has embarked on a
massive e-governance exercise, was in for a shock when it began online
database updation of the two crore ration card holders. The system threw up
30 lakh duplicates, C Umashankar, managing director, ELCOT, told The Times
of India
.

Civil Supplies Department Commissioner K Rajaraman said 99,161 bogus cards
had been confiscated. But ELCOT's estimate of the number of bogus cards in
circulation is far higher. "We detected 30 lakh bogus cards. This means that
roughly about 15 per cent of the cards in Tamil Nadu are bogus. It also
means that rations worth more than Rs 300 crores are being siphoned off
every year. This is a huge loss for the government," Umashankar said. Though
rampant corruption in the State's fair price shops is well known, this is
the first time that bogus drawals have been quantified, thanks to the online
process.

"While we were updating the database, we found that several consumers had
the same card number. In many cases, the same application number was given
to hundreds of people. This slowed down the system as we found it difficult
to differentiate between genuine and bogus cards," he said. The system took
out 1.2 lakh cards issued on duplicate application numbers arising out
"clerical errors". "These are valid cards and we will be issuing new
application numbers for them."

According to ELCOT, the updation would be completed by mid-May, following
which the system would go online. After this, applications for ration cards,
additions or deletions of names and change of address could begin.

But the mind-boggling "clean up" to weed out the 30-odd lakh bogus cards
could drastically slow down the process.