Ration card given to foreigner: Govt officials in the dock

Officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department are in trouble for issuing ration cards to an Iranian citizen and a British citizen of Indian origin.

Officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department are in trouble for issuing ration cards to an Iranian citizen and a British citizen of Indian origin. The city police have asked the Foodgrain Distribution Office to cancel the ration cards of the two and provide it with a certified copy.

Isa Mosa Bakeri, an Iranian citizen, whose address is shown as 407/A1 Sai Swarka, NIBM Road, Kondhwa, was issued a ration card on March 27, 2003. On the other hand, 53-year-old Jyoti Dandekar, a resident of Navi Peth and now a British national, was issued the ration card in 1972.

Foodgrain Distribution officer Pradeep Patil said ration card issued to 50-year-old Bakkeri is illegal. “Foreigners are not issued the ration cards. Only those who are Indian citizen or have accepted Indian citizenship get ration cards. After we received a letter from the city police, we begun investigation into the matter. We found that Bakeri should not have been issued a ration card,” he said. Patil said action will be taken against the food inspector and other officials who issued the ration card to Bakeri. “We have already cancelled the ration card of Bakeri,” he said Patil said there are Iranians who have issued rations cards but they are Indian citizens.

As for Jyoti Dandekar, Patil said her ration card was issued in 1972 and was automatically cancelled in 1977 as it was not renewed in a period of five years. “Dandekar has given us in writing that she does not possess any ration card and her ration card was cancelled years back,” Patil said.