Vijayawada: The state government stepped back from its commitment of issuing Ration Cards as part of the resolving of grievances received from Janmabhoomi. It is thinking about the ration cards issued as it has the notion that accepting them might split the joint families and that they will also have to provide facilities in housing, pensions, and other government benefits. The ministers are expressing their distress over rolling back on the ration cards issue, which is promised in Janmabhoomi. The chief minister directed alternative measures in the issue of ration cards to see that there will not be an impact on other benefits.
In the Collectors’ conference, the government seriously discussed the ration cards issue of grievances. The state government received a huge demand for ration cards, under financial grievances. 1,80,333 number of grievances received requesting for ration cards in the Janmabhoomi programme. Interestingly, the applications received for housing and house sites are either close to or less than the number of applications received for cards.
According to the CM’s CORE Dashboard, more than 2.10 lakh people applied for housing while more than 1.21 lakh applied for house sites.
The ration card had become the main tool to avail of government benefits. The ration card isn’t a major issue for the government as there is no limit on a number of family members but for other new schemes and benefits, the joint families splitting along with newlyweds had become an issue for the government. For example, housing pattas or constructed houses are allowed based on ration cards. With this, either the other family members or new couples are splitting for gaining the benefits.
At present the ration will be provided for all the family members in a household but they are splitting for other government benefits.
On the ration cards, the number is higher than the number of the household registered under the smart pulse survey. In addition to this the government is once again receiving grievances in Janmabhoomi. The state government had taken a decision on this.
With this, the Chief Minister had instructed civil supplies and panchayat raj officials to take a decision. They suggested creating awareness among the public, especially to newlyweds who are splitting from joint families for the sake of benefits.
With this, the Chief Minister had come to a decision and intimated the ministers. The ministers on the other hand convinced the Chief Minister that earlier they had committed to issuing new ration cards, and if they failed to do so they might send wrong signal.
The ministers even explained that they will allocate houses to newlyweds after a while, though not immediately as they are living in small houses in joint families where it is tough to adjust. But still, the Chief Minister isn’t convinced, and said, to provide cards to genuine families.
Civil supplies minister P Pulla Rao said it was the responsibility of the government to protect the joint families and is thinking of providing additional benefits without splitting them from families. He also said they don’t have any objections to giving new cards to the genuine and the eligible members.
