Bhubaneswar: Over 1.57 lakh households are waiting to get printed ration cards under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and the State Food Security Scheme (SFSS). The official processes for deletion of names of dead persons from the list of beneficiaries, as well as disposal of applications for new ration cards, appear to have slowed down inexplicably.In a recent letter to the government and the collectors, the Odisha State Food Commission pointed out these administrative lapses and sought prompt action. "The food supplies and consumer welfare department should ensure that adequate numbers of printed ration cards are made available to the concerned civil supplies officers with strict instruction to ensure delivery of such cards to concerned households by November-end," chairperson of the state food commission, Ranglal Jamuda, said in his letter to the government and the collectors on Saturday.While analysing the government's performance in the last two quarters - April to June and July to September - Jamuda said more than 1.57 lakh households were still waiting for printed ration cards even as the overall situation had improved by September-end. He said the bulk of the complaints came from three districts - Gajapati, Jajpur and Koraput He said collectors should ensure the disposal of all pending cases and applications for ration cards. He added that over 1.94 fresh applications had been received for ration cards under NFSA and SFSS in the past three months, from July to September. Besides, detection of left-out households with door to door survey should be completed at the earliest, he said.The state food commission further expressed concern over the failure of the administration to detect ration cards being held in the name of dead persons. "The deletion process of dead persons from the list of beneficiaries should be accelerated. By the end of November, at least two lakhs dead persons' names should be deleted," it said.

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