Bhubaneswar: At least 20,000 government employees have surrendered their ration cards after the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) Department threatened action against ineligible beneficiaries of public distribution system (PDS) in Odisha.

The state government had set January 31 as the deadline for ineligible beneficiaries to surrender their ration cards.

Till date, as many as 20,000 government employees have surrendered their ration cards. The number was 12,000 two days ago, said FS&CW Minister Krushna Chandra Patra today.

“Contractual employees having monthly income up to Rs 12,000 need not surrender their ration cards. As per the National Food Security Act (NFSA), people having monthly income of Rs 15,000 or above are supposed to return their ration cards,” said the minister.

Patra once again urged the ineligible beneficiaries to return their ration cards before the initiation of punitive action by the state government.

“Ineligible beneficiaries who have surrendered their ration cards will not face any trouble. However, stern action will be taken against those ineligible beneficiaries who are still holding the ration cards,” added the minister.    

According to sources, as many as 3.35 crore people have been included in the PDS in Odisha.