Linking Aadhaar with ration cards results in 50 lakh gap in beneficiary number — Assam CM

Kokrajhar (Assam), Sep. 6 (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa on Tuesday said the government has found a gap of around 50 lakh beneficiaries after linking Aadhaar cards with ration cards across the state.

The central government is likely to sign a peace accord with the Adivasi militant groups of Assam within this month, he said.

“After the linking exercise, we have found that around 50 lakh beneficiaries have not come (for the service). Some people might have died and some might have moved to other places due to marriages. Unfortunately, there were some fake ones also,” Sarma said.

Addressing a press conference after the cabinet meeting here, he said the government is going to save a good amount of money for these unaccounted beneficiaries and accordingly add genuine people to the list.

“We will bring a set of new 50 lakh people under the ambit of the National Food Security Act (NFSA). Today’s cabinet discussed all these points,” he added.

Sarma also informed reporters that around 62,000 people were found to be ineligible for its flagship ‘Arunodoi’ scheme, while around 2,000 have voluntarily given up the benefits of the programme.

The state government provides monthly monetary assistance of Rs 1,250 to the beneficiaries under the scheme which currently covers nearly 20 lakh families.

“The Arunodoi month is getting over on September 20. We will know the exact number of exclusions then only. I hope one lakh new beneficiaries will be added in place of the exclusions,” he added.

Besides, the chief minister said that the central government is likely to sign a peace accord with the Adivasi militant groups of Assam in September.

Without sharing any detail, he said that the entire process is being carried out under the initiative of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.