‘Mann must act, not blame’: Pralhad Joshi hit back at Punjab CM over ‘foodgrain theft’ allegations

NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi on Sunday said that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should act against “diversion” and “misuse of food” meant for the poor instead of making allegations on the Central Government of “foodgrain theft.”

The Union Minister said the Mann government should act instead of making allegations against the Centre for illegal diversion and misuse of foodgrains meant for the poor.

After allegations of ‘vote theft’, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has now accused the Central Government of ‘foodgrain theft’. The Chief Minister alleged that the Centre is conspiring to block Punjab’s share of the Public Distribution System (PDS) ration.

Mann claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central Government wants to snatch free ration from the poor of the state. He said Punjab has a total of 1.53 crore ration card holders, out of which there is a plan to stop free ration for 55 lakh people.

According to the Chief Minister, in July, free ration for 23 lakh people was stopped under the pretext of e-KYC, and now there is a threat to block ration for another 32 lakh people from September 30.

Responding to Mann’s allegations, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi held a press conference today and said, “Mann must act, not blame. There is pressure from lobbies to continue giving rations to ineligible people, and CM Mann is working under that pressure.”

The Union Minister clarified that the order for e-KYC came from the Supreme Court; the Centre has only asked states and UTs to comply. He said that Punjab was advised to begin e-KYC in March 2023, and the deadline was extended three times in two years. Despite this, the Centre has never stopped rationing for even a single day. Between June and August 2025 alone, Punjab was allocated 1.74 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrains.

“Under NFSA, Punjab has a cap of 1.41 crore beneficiaries, of which 90% have already completed e-KYC. Identification and distribution of beneficiaries is the responsibility of the State Government,” Joshi added.

Joshi further added that Punjab’s ration card database shows more than 12 lakh suspicious beneficiaries, including duplicates, deceased persons, and “silent card holders” (those in whose names ration was allocated but never collected).

According to Ministry sources, following the Supreme Court’s order, the e-KYC process was completed nationwide, revealing approximately three crore fake beneficiaries. In Punjab alone, nearly 10 lakh fake ration cards were detected, over 10,000 duplicate beneficiaries, 21,370 silent beneficiaries (never collected ration despite allocation) and 7,511 deceased beneficiaries who were still shown as receiving a ration. (ANI)