Drive to check all ration cards in district

The 10 lakh ration card-holders from the city and the seven lakh from the rural areas will be required to fill a form and affix the photo of the main card holder for authorities to verify their cards. The drive began on May 1 and will continue till October 31.

“During the first three months,forms will be distributed and collected. Checking will take another two months and the last month will see verifications and cancellations,’’ said food distribution officer Pradeep Patil.

A detailed programme on the drive in Pune has been furnished to the High Court. Similar drives will be carried out across the state.

The state government has already prepared nine lakh forms for distribution. The forms are available at fair price shops.

“It is mandatory for every ration card holder- saffron,yellow or even white- to fill up the form,attach residence proof,photo of the main card holder and hand it back to the fair price shop owner,” said Patil.

“Though we have conducted several drives,this special drive initiated in the district will help us update our records and also ensure that there are no bogus ration cards,’’ he added.

Two officers will check the cards for eight zones.

A drive conducted by the food and civil supplies department had revealed that a staggering 42.20 lakh bogus ration cards are in circulation in the state and the losses from this from just one tehsil in Solapur district were about Rs 189.40 crore in the last 12 years in two commodities: wheat and rice.