No BPL card for car owners: Food Minister Muniyappa

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Minister for Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs K.H.Muniyappa said the department will cancel the Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards given to those who own whiteboard fourwheelers.

At the same time, the government is mulling not sanctioning new BPL cards to families with their own cars.

Addressing a news conference here on Friday, he said the department is also planning the withdrawal of BPL cards given to those having yellow board cars.

Instructions to this effect have been issued to department officials. The distribution of BPL cards was suspended a few months ago due to a model code of conduct in connection with the Assembly polls.

New BPL cards would be distributed soon, he said adding that permission had been given for the inclusion of new names in the BPL card. The minister also said the government is seriously thinking of distributing 10 kg of rice to BPL card holders from September.

The Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have come forward to sell rice to Karnataka and it would be finalized by officials of those two states within a week.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has been requested to sell rice at Rs 34 per kg. At present, the government is transferring money to the bank accounts of consumers.

If everything goes as per plan, 10 kg of rice would be supplied to every BPL cardholder from next month.

So far, the government has transferred Rs 556 crore to nearly one crore families as an alternative to rice.