The Hindu

• ‘People’s representatives not consulted’
• There are anomalies in BPL list, says ZP member
• It was decided to take photographs at booth levels

Udupi, Feb 26: The distribution of ration cards among the poor dominated the general body meeting of Udupi Zilla Panchayat here on Monday.

Madan Kumar, member, said some people had to travel nearly 15 km for their photographs being taken for ration cards. The department had not taken the people’s representatives into confidence before embarking on taking photographs of people, he said.

Bhujanga Shetty, member, said that gram panchayats were allowed only two days to inform people about the programme. The department should have informed the people and not the gram panchayats, he added.
Kumar said that MLC Pratapchandra Shetty said that photographers could have been sent to villages instead of making people travel or walk long distances to get photographed.

Raju Devadiga, member, said that the entire process of distribution of ration cards in the district was in a state of mess. At many places, ration cards meant for below the poverty line (BPL) families were given to above the poverty line (APL) families. The situation was such that residents of Trasi village in Kundapur taluk vented their anger on a member of the gram panchayat by beating him up, recently.

The officials were now deleting the families from BPL lists just to maintain the ratio between the BPL and APL lists provided by their superiors. While nobody wanted an ineligible family to be given BPL cards, the deletion was being done randomly affecting the genuine cases. It had become difficult for members to face the people in their constituencies, Devadiga said. As the officials failed to give proper replies, it was decided to take the photographs at booth levels.

Bhagyalakshmi scheme

Kota Srinivas Poojary, member, alleged that the Department of Women and Child Welfare was callous in choosing beneficiaries of Bhagyalakshmi scheme in the district. Deputy director of the department Vijaylakshmi Shenoy said bonds had been distributed to the beneficiaries in Udupi and Karkala taluks, but not in Kundapur taluk. Vice president Sujatha Vasudev and chief executive officer of the zilla panchayat Prasanna Kumar were present.