Hyderabad: Telangana civil supplies minister Capt. Uttam Kumar Reddy has directed all District Collectors to give top priority to the physical verification of ration cards and complete the process within a set timeframe.
In a video conference held on Friday to review the advance lifting and distribution of foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for the quarter of June to August 2025, the Minister said the goal is to ensure that only eligible beneficiaries receive ration supplies and that invalid or fake cards are removed from the system.
He instructed officials to conduct physical checks wherever necessary and take immediate action to deactivate fraudulent or ineligible ration cards. However, he assured that no genuine beneficiary would be excluded and the process would be transparent and fair.
Currently, Telangana has over 90 lakh active ration cards, covering 2.82 crore people under NFSA. While the number of suspicious cards is just over one percent, it still involves a large number of beneficiaries and could impact the accuracy and integrity of the Public Distribution System if not addressed, the Minister said.
Officials informed the minister that a special verification drive is underway to examine 96,240 ration cards flagged by the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD), Government of India.
These cards involve about 1.62 lakh suspected beneficiaries, identified through a national database analysis to remove ineligible or duplicate entries.
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