Bhubaneswar: In the wake of brutal Pahalgam terror attacks that claimed 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha Government initiated a process to ascertain the number of foreign infiltrators issued ration cards in the state. 

In this regard, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Department has directed all the district collectors to identify the foreign infiltrators and exclude them from the list if found as beneficiaries under food security schemes. 

"Many foreign nationals from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar have availed ration cards after infiltrating Odisha. The collectors have been directed to identify those and remove their names as beneficiaries," informed Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra today. 

The actual number of foreign infiltrators, who are the PDS beneficiaries in Odisha by using political pressure or via illegal methods, can be ascertained after completion of the identification process, he added.