Bengaluru: In a shocking move, the Department of Food and Civil Supplies cancelled as many as 85,204 BPL cards misused by the rich especially those who were paying the Income Tax. A move in this regard was made in collaboration with the IT Department.

According to the authorities, as both PAN card and EKYC of BPL cards are now authenticated via Aadhar card, the Department was able to cancel these illegal cards.

As the BPL cards are used for all the government schemes including free medical insurance, the government was suffering a huge loss due to this misuse. Officials have estimated it to be around Rs.200 crores per month and this was saved by these cancellations.

Meanwhile, following a stern warning from the government 36,268 families returned their BPL cards.  The State government launched a crackdown against the misuse of the BPL cards following the findings that even rich, government employees are also using it.