Date:17/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/17/stories/2006121701910400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Congress threatens stir if BPL cards are not issued by month-end

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: The Bangalore city unit of the Congress on Saturday warned that it would launch an agitation if the Government failed to distribute ration cards to families living below the poverty line (BPL) in Bangalore by December 31.

Party legislators R. Ramalinga Reddy, K. Chandrashekar, N.L. Narendra Babu and M.R. Seetharam, representing constituencies in Bangalore, said the agitation would be launched in the first week of January if the ration cards were not distributed by December-end. They estimated that nearly one lakh families in Bangalore had been denied access to subsidised foodgrains because of the delay in the distribution of ration cards.

Apart from subsidised rations, the families were also unable to get benefits under various developmental schemes because a BPL ration card was a must for enrolling themselves under these schemes. The schemes that needed BPL ration cards to serve as an identity card included Bhagyalakshmi, under which Rs. 10,000 is deposited in the name of a girl child born in a poor family, and the bicycle scheme for poor children studying in high schools.

Mr. Chandrashekar said the Government was only concentrating on mega-projects and neglecting issues that affected the poor. Lack of coordination between the ruling coalition partners was responsible for the delay in the distribution of BPL ration cards, he charged.