According to the new rules, all income tax payers, all registered goods and services tax payers, all service and professional taxpayers, and any family that owns or operates a government-registered enterprise will be excluded from the list of beneficiaries.
Any household in Punjab that owns a car, an air conditioner (AC), or has any family member owning 2.5 acres of land will not be eligible for free rations. The state government has amended the Punjab Food Security Rules 2016 and has issued detailed guidelines.
This could lead to 10.28 lakh beneficiaries losing their free rations. The central government had released a list of all such beneficiaries and recommended to the state government to exclude them from this facility. This led to considerable controversy. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann alleged that the central government was conspiring to cancel 8 lakh ration cards.
Now, after the entire controversy, the state government has decided to amend the Food Security Rules. Some new provisions have been included. According to the new rules, all income tax payers, all registered goods and services taxpayers, all service and professional taxpayers, and any family that owns or operates an enterprise registered with the government will be excluded from the list of beneficiaries.
Furthermore, families of employees of the central, state, union territory, or its boards and corporations, any family whose annual family income from all sources exceeds ₹180,000, and any family owning a house built on a plot area of 100 square yards or more or a flat of 750 square feet or more in a municipal corporation or municipal council in the state will also be excluded from this facility.
The previous rules did not detail these provisions. This is why the government has decided to amend these rules. Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution, Prahlad Joshi, previously released data on high-income beneficiaries who are availing of this scheme. In these, information was given about 9,44,721 beneficiaries with income more than Rs 6 lakh and 24,097 beneficiaries having 4-wheeler vehicles.
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