Udupi, Sep. 27: The application for new ration cards will be allowed from October, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister K.H. Muniyappa said on Friday.
Addressing reporters in Udupi, he said that during the latest survey of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 7.70 lakh ration card holders were identified as ineligible. In Karnataka, these 7.70 lakh ration card holders will be converted from BPL category to APL.
Previous governments kept issuing BPL cards to people without any verification. The states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala do not have more than 50% BPL cards. However, our state has more than 75% BPL cards. Despite being a developed state, Karnataka has 1.28 crore BPL and Antyodaya card holders.
Thus, the revision of BPL cards is going on in the state. If the ration cards have been wrongly changed from BPL to APL, such beneficiaries can apply for BPL cards. They will be provided with food grains within a day. After this revision work is completed, new applications for ration cards will be allowed, he said.