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indianexpress: Our of close to 10 lakh ration card-holders in the district, as many as 1.32 lakh hold fake ration cards. What has come to light following inquiry by a squad has been set up by the district collectorate is that the entire lot of fake ration cards hitherto uncovered are in the rural areas of the district.

Given the high percentage of the bogus ration cards, at over 13 per cent, collectorate officials are now conducting an inquiry to expose the errant officials who had issued the ration cards. The crackdown plan also comprises cancellation of the bogus ration cards as well as random checks in urban segments of the district to gauge the extent of the malaise in the city areas.

It is now feared that the case will be no different in the urban areas of the district.

With the state government issuing directives recently that cancellation of fake ration cards should be done in a month’s time, followed by corrective action, district officers are doing the rounds and “conducting surprise checks” in the urban areas.

Additional Collector Vasant Vaidya said a door-to-door survey is on and stringent action will be taken against officials who have issued ration cards without the requisite procedure in the district.

The one-year drive, as instructed by the state government, saw 1,32,000 fake ration cards in the rural areas being exposed. According to the district supply officer Snehal Barge, ration cards were issued to those who’d not even filledthe mandatory application form.