Ration cards not to be considered as residence proof

Mumbai, Oct 19 (UNI) Maharashtra Government today clarified that ration cards cannot be considered a proof of residence.

An official press release issued here said it has come to the notice of the administration that ration card is being asked to be produced as proof of residence for obtaining school admission, telephone connection and driving license.

Ration card is given for lifting food grains from the PDS under the Essential Commodities Act. A Ration card is not to be used for any other purpose and it has been clearly mentioned in the card, the release added.

Food and Civil supplies department, while providing the ration cards makes vague inquiries about the residential address given in the application.

''The department does not check whether the residence is legal or illegal or whether the applicant lives in a proper house or slum.

Ration card is given on the basis that food is the primary need of a person,'' the press release said.

Sometimes, on humanitarian grounds, persons or families living in specific areas get ration cards. Once, the card is given, the department has no machinery to find out whether all the members of a family mentioned in the card live at the same address. ''It is not possible to conduct a survey,'' the release said.

The Government has asked all those concerned not to consider a ration card provided by the food and civil supplies department as proof of residence. ''If any body seeks ration card for the purpose, he/she would be doing so at their own risk,'' the release added and said that the government has clarified that voter identity card given by the election commission of India is being allowed to be used as a identity card for various purposes.

If the use of ration cards for residential proof is stopped, the menace of issuance of fake ration cards would also stop, the statement added.

UNI MR MJ MQA GC1939