Delhi Police have nabbed a Jharkhand-based group of alleged scamsters, who fraudulently gave contracts for issue of plastic cards under the ‘One nation, One ration card’ scheme.
Announcing the arrests on Tuesday, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Danve Raosaheb Dadarao reiterated that no fresh card is needed for the portability scheme, under which existing ration card holders can avail subsidised food anywhere in the country. The scheme is set to be rolled out in 20 States from June onwards.
Last month, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had said the ministry had lodged an FIR over a fake letter purporting to come from the ministry and claiming that private vendors were being engaged to prepare new ration cards. “No new ration cards are being made under the One Nation One Ration Card scheme. The existing card will be accepted across the country to get subsidised foodgrain,” Mr. Paswan had tweeted.
However, as no individual victim had been identified at the time, the Delhi Police could not make much headway in its investigations, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Eish Singhal.
On Monday, a Maharashtra resident Bhagwat Sahebaro Wayal approched the ministry in Delhi and alleged that he had been defrauded by a Jharkhand resident Pratush Kumar Rana, who had charged him up to ₹15 lakh for a contract to print new cards in one district. Delhi Police arrested the accused and his associate with the forged letter in the city on Tuesday. Investigations were ongoing to ascertain whether they had carried out the scam in other States as well.
