In a bid to detect bogus white ration cards held by state government employees, the treasuries department has asked all public servants to submit a copy of the ration card in their possession to get their salary for September, putting the employees in a fix.
According to employees, those who claim to possess neither pink nor white ration card have been asked to give an undertaking to that effect. Though the state has not issued an official order making it mandatory for employees, staff claim the finance department has issued “internal circulars” to this effect.
Employees said their seniors and department heads have asked them to submit a copy of ration card immediately to be eligible for drawing this month’s salary.
“We were told by our higher ups that unless we submit a copy of our ration card, whether pink or white, the treasuries department will not accept our salary bills and payments would be stopped,” K. Venugopal of AP Teachers’ Federation said.
The civil supplies department launched a special drive two months ago to weed out bogus white ration cards. With an estimated 50 lakh bogus white ration cards in the state, the department had given a deadline of August 31 for voluntary surrender of such cards.
Inquiries by the department revealed that scores of government employees got bogus white ration cards to avail free treatment in private hospitals under the government’s Aarogyasri scheme. The government subsequently called for the surrender of these cards after announcing the decision to provide ‘health cards’ to all employees from November 1 for free treatment at private hospitals.
The finance department is said to have directed all district collectors, RDOs, tahsildars and heads of all government departments to compile data on the number of employees who have submitted a copy of their ration card.
Minister for civil supplies D. Sridhar Babu said, “We have repeatedly urged employees to voluntarily surrender bogus cards. The government will be forced to take such steps to detect white ration cards from those who refuse to surrender them,” he said.