Cong warns Delhi govt of stir if ration cards not given to 55 lakh people

Former Minister in the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government in Delhi, Haroon Yusuf warned the Arvind Kejriwal government that if it does not provide ration cards to around 55 lakh people or give them free rations to tide over the Covid-19 crisis within one month, the party will launch a campaign against it.

Addressing a press conference here Yusuf said that for the past six years, 11.49 lakh poor families have been waiting for their ration cards, and assuming that each family consists of five persons, then the Kejriwal government has robbed 54 to 55 lakh people of rations.

He said that poor people are solely dependent on grains, pulses and other essential items supplied through ration shops for their survival, and in the absence of ration cards, children from such families are suffering acute malnutrition.

He said that the AAP government had no qualms about squandering Rs 511.78 crore for publicity at the cost of the poor as most of them are out of jobs and unable to ply their trade due to the pandemic.

Yusuf added that the lopsided priorities of the Kejriwal government were clearly evident from the fact that in the last 7 years, it shut down 461 ration shops but opened 450 liquor outlets.

He said that the hurried re-opening of the liquor shops during the lockdown had contributed to the spike in infections in the national capital.

Yusuf said that during the lockdown, the Delhi Government's "Janta Samvad Portal" had noted that the government had launched a scheme to supply free ration to only around 10 lakh people, whereas 54 lakh people had applied for free ration. This proves that the government had denied regular ration to 80 per cent non-ration card holders. - IANS