The Suvendu Adhikari government has launched a drive to weed out ineligible and ghost beneficiaries of the food and supplies department's cheap grain scheme in an effort to prevent misuse of a handsome amount spent every year under the Khadya Sathi project.
“Based on the outcome of SIR 2026, the food and supplies department has decided to undertake verification and deletion of those PDS beneficiaries who have been found ineligible...,” reads an order issued by the food and supplies department on Thursday.
The order clarified that those 63 lakh people, whose names were deleted from the electoral roll during the special intensive revision (SIR), should be identified and their ration cards deactivated.
The order also stated that the ration cards of those who applied for citizenship under the CAA or appealed before the tribunals after their names were deleted from the voter list should be kept active until their pleas were disposed of.
Earlier, the government had introduced a new application form for the Annapurna Yojana, which was launched by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari a few days ago. The application form was introduced after the government suspected that more than 30 lakh ineligible beneficiaries were getting financial assistance under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme.
Under the Annapurna Yojana, the state grants ₹3,000 a month to each of the estimated two crore women. The government will have to spend nearly ₹72,000 crore under this scheme every year. The previous government used to spend about ₹30,000 crore annually to run Lakshmir Bhandar.
“The state exchequer is really struggling and it is impossible to increase revenue generation immediately. The state will have to initiate steps to prevent misuse of funds to ensure that the struggling exchequer can shoulder the additional burden,” said an official.
According to officials, leakage of funds under the Khadya Sathi — the cheap grain scheme — needs to be stopped as the food and supplies department spends nearly ₹15,000 crore annually to provide free grains to nearly two crore people and procure paddy directly from farmers.
“It is suspected a handsome amount was misused under these schemes during the Trinamool Congress regime. So, verification of all the ration card holders is necessary,” said a senior official.
According to the plan, the SDOs and BDOs would provide the list of deleted voters under their respective jurisdictions to the area inspectors of the food and supplies department. The food and supplies department officials would then visit the residences of all the people whose names were struck off the electoral roll to confirm the deletion.
“Once the verification is done, the ration cards of the ineligible beneficiaries will have to be deactivated. The top brass of the government wanted the process to be completed by June 15,” said an official.
The BJP government will also look into the paddy procurement process during the Trinamool regime.
“On paper, the state procured more than 55 lakh tons of paddy over the past few years on average. But initial findings suggested that a substantial quantity of rice did not return to the state from the rice mills after milling. It would be investigated whether the paddy, as shown on papers, was actually procured,” said a senior official.
The Centre provides cheap grains to 6.01 crore people in Bengal under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The state government gives free grains to another two crore people over and above the NFSA.
“The new government would find out how many of these beneficiaries are genuine,” said an official, adding that the inquiry into paddy procurement could start soon.