BJP leader Bidhuri asks Kejriwal govt to conduct survey for issuing new ration cards

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri has demanded the Arvind Kejriwal government conduct a survey for issuing new ration cards.

The BJP leader claimed on Monday that no new cards were provided to the people in the national capital in the last eight years.

Over three lakh people have already applied for ration cards in Delhi and poor families are waiting for it for many years, he said.

"Since the formation of the Kejriwal government, no new ration cards have been issued in Delhi for the past eight years, leaving more than three lakh people waiting for their ration cards.

"The Delhi High Court has also recently ordered an inquiry into this matter," Bidhuri said.

The government has not conducted any survey so far, so there is no data on the total number of ration cards in Delhi, he said.

The Delhi government, in a statement, said that the distribution of ration in the city has been going on smoothly and the distribution figure for the last few months is about 100 per cent.

"The distribution figure for June 2023 and July 2023 was 101 per cent and 107 per cent respectively and it is already about 65 per cent for August 2023," it said.

Regarding new cards, there is a cap of 72,77,995 beneficiaries as set by the Central government for Delhi under the National Food Safety Act and any new addition of members is done only when a vacancy is created by surrender or deletion of existing ration cards, it added.