The Tripura government has identified 62,173 fake ration cards involving 2.81 lakh people.
This was disclosed by Tripura Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Monoj Kanti Deb on Wednesday.
The minister said that after the computerization of the Public Distribution System (PDS), 62,173 fake ration cards were identified adding that around 2,81,000 people were holding these bogus ration cards.
He said a large number of them might be of Bangladesh origin.
There are 9,08,212 ration cards belonging to 36,86,216 people under 1,809 ration shops in Tripura.
The minister further added that despite thorough inquiry, there is no trace of these 2,81,000 people against whom various commodities were issued through the public distribution system.
Currently, rice, flour, sugar, salt and kerosene are being distributed via PDS at a discounted rate, while the state civil supplies department with start distributing masur dal from Thursday under PDS in subsidized rates.
“With Aadhaar number seeding, the end-to-end computerization of the PDS was completed in Tripura last year,” Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department’s Director-cum-Secretary Debasis Basu said.
“It is the first state in the Northeast to complete digitalisation. All food offices, godowns, fair price shops and related systems have been digitalized,” he added.