PANAJI
There has been a steady increase in the number of live ration cards in the State with more than 300 new ones added in June and as many as 26 surrendered an official of the Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department said.
There are approximately 2.62 lakh active ration cards in the State to date of which 1.24 lakh are PHH (Priority Household) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration cards under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) .
About 1.37 lakh households have ration cards in the above poverty line (APL) category.
There was a significant increase in registrations in the second fortnight of June with 21 cards registered under NFSA and 304 in the APL category totalling up to 325 new cards being registered.
According to the official, these new registrations are mostly due to the splitting up of households into nuclear families.
The department has also deactivated the ration cards of those who have not lifted their ration quotas from their allocated fair price shops for three consecutive months.
“They then have to come to the district office of the Civil Supplies Department and reactivate them to get the benefits back.
The official also said there have been several cases where people have surrendered their NFSA cards and accepted APL category cards due to increase in their incomes.
Twenty-six ration cards were surrendered in June all in the NFSA category while not a single APL card had been given up.
Of the new ration cards registered, seven were in the NFSA category in North Goa and 14 in South Goa. Similarly, 103 new APL cards were issued in June in North Goa and 201 in South Goa.
