At Ration Shop In Madhya Pradesh, Dead Get Food But The Living Struggle

An alleged ration scam has come to light at a distribution centre in Madhya Pradesh's Satna district in which a man who has been dead for seven years has been getting foodgrain but another, who is alive, has been struggling to do so for eight years. 

Under the National Food Security Act, each member of priority households below a certain income bracket is given 2 kg wheat and 3 kg rice free of cost through the public distribution system (PDS). 

At one such distribution centre in Akouna Gram Panchayat of Rampur Baghelan tehsil, ration has been taken in the name of Balwant Singh, who died in a road accident seven years ago, despite his death being recorded on the Samagra Portal - a state initiative to facilitate the distribution of social security and benefit schemes. 

On the other end of the spectrum is Shankar, a 62-year-old tribal man from Akouna village, who was declared dead on the Samagra portal eight years ago and has not been receiving foodgrain since then. 

Akouna Sarpanch Shraddha Singh said Shankar was mysteriously declared dead on the Samagra portal in 2017, making him ineligible for getting foodgrain under the PDS. He began approaching various authorities to rectify the error and sought help from Sarpanch Singh six months ago. 

Ms Singh said she raised the matter on CPGRAMS (Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System), an online platform to record citizen grievances against government organisations. After the case was investigated, the Satna district collector ordered that Shankar be declared alive, and the 62-year-old was revived in government records. He is still not getting the ration, however, 

Authorities' Take

Shivkumar Gautam, a salesman at the government ration centre, said names of eight members of Balwant Singh's family are registered under the same Samagra ID and one of them had been collecting the foodgrain in his name. On May 13, this was done by one Pradeep Singh, he said. 

District Supply Officer Samyak Jain said he was not aware of either of the cases. "If what you are saying is true, both cases are serious. Action will be taken against the culprits after investigation. It will be ensured that eligible people get the benefits and the ration of ineligible people is stopped," he said. 

(With inputs from Gyan Shukla)