Mumbai: When Ramdas Chavan (name changed on request), a farm labourer from Mhasobachi Wadi in Pune’s Indapur taluka, got 10 farmers together to pool resources and buy a tractor under a government scheme for group farming last year, he would not have imagined that it would one day cost him his ration.
Since he had taken the initiative for the scheme, the tractor was registered in his name. This eventually led to his name being deleted from the list of beneficiaries entitled to subsidised foodgrains under the Public Distribution System (PDS). And now, he has also received a notice seeking the recovery of the cost of foodgrains he collected from ration shops over the past year.
Their names were flagged based on records compiled from various government departments, including income tax, transport, and land records. The recovery notices have drawn criticism from activists. “The deletion of beneficiaries has been carried out indiscriminately based on data received from the central government, without verifying the facts. The income limits prescribed by the government are unreasonable and are based on parameters decided three decades ago. Mahesh Dhawale, chairman of the Maharashtra State Food Commission, has written to the state government urging it not to recover money from the beneficiaries. that does not necessarily mean that all of them have crossed the prescribed income limit While the income of many families may have increased. “In the absence of clear instructions from the government, we had issued notices to people whose names had been deleted from the list of beneficiaries.
Maharashtra accounts for more than 7.5 million of the 17.7 million ration cardholders flagged by the Centre. “The list of beneficiaries has been prepared on the basis of parameters finalised in 1997, while the income ceiling was revised in 2013. Because the vehicle is registered in my name, and I was deleted from the list of beneficiaries, “My name was flagged by the central government. Because one member’s income increased, in several joint families, the entire household has been excluded from the list merely. Lahu Jadhav, supply inspector of Indapur taluka, said the notices were initially issued due to a lack of clarity from the government.
My income has not crossed the prescribed limit, as I still work as a farm labourer,” he said. Tushar Zende Patil, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, said that even eligible beneficiaries had been served notices. The recovery also goes against a high court ruling, which says that benefits extended as grants cannot be recovered. Foodgrains distributed through the Public Distribution System cannot be recovered in this manner,” he said. We have directed the government to consider splitting the ration cards of such families and stop recovery from beneficiaries with retrospective effect,” he said. However, following the complaints we received, the guidelines have been revised, and we have decided not to recover money from the beneficiaries,” he said.
Now, I have been served a notice seeking recovery of the cost of foodgrains I took over the last year, calculated at market rates. The Centre had sent Maharashtra’s food and civil supplies department a list of beneficiaries identified as ineligible under its Mission Sudhar initiative last year.
