Agartala, Jul 7 (IANS); The Tripura government has cancelled 62,340 fake ration cards identified after computerisation of the PDS system, officials said here on Tuesday.

Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department Director Tapan Kumar Das said that after the cancellation, the number of ration cards has come down to around nine lakh that benefit 36 lakh people in the state.

"After the computerisation of the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Tripura, 62,340 fake ration cards involving 2,80,776 beneficiaries were identified," Das told IANS.

He said that PDS ration and other items are giving to beneficiaries after biometric authentication to prevent pilferage and frauds.

Tripura Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Monoj Kanti Deb said that after the BJP-led government came to power in the state in March 2018, these fake ration cards had been cancelled.

"These forged ration cards were issued during the previous (Left Front) government," Deb said at an official event.

The Minister claimed that of the 2.81 lakh persons found benefiting from fake ration cards, a large number may be Bangladeshi nationals.

"Despite a thorough inquiry, there was no trace of a majority of these 2.81 lakh people against whom PDS commodities were issued for many years."

Das said that with 100 per cent Aadhaar number seeding, end-to-end computerisation of PDS was completed in Tripura in 2018 for transparency and quick services, and inter-state portability of ration cards system introduced last year.

"Tripura is the first state in northeast India to complete the digitalisation of the entire PDS. The central government has appreciated Tripura government's work in digitalisation," Das said.

The PDS computerisation is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the National Informatics Centre and is being introduced in all states and union territories across the country.