To deter ineligible people from grabbing the benefits of the state government’s subsidised rice scheme, Chhattisgarh has come up with a novel idea: write the name of the BPL cardholder and “Re 1 per kg rice” or “Rs 2 per kg rice” on the front wall of the house.

Opposition Congress says it is unfair to ‘humiliate’ the poor after the government failed to check irregularities when it was preparing the BPL list. Earlier this month, the Madhya Pradesh government was criticised by the BSP for a similar drive.

Chhattisgarh’s Food and Civil Supplies Department’s Principal Secretary Vivek Dhand wrote to district collectors to complete the “wall writing” on the houses of 37.19 lakh BPL families by September 15 for greater transparency and to ensure that fruits of “Chief Minister’s Food security scheme” percolated down to the genuine poor. The department feels it will help identify the real and ineligible beneficiaries.

The 30-lakh BPL families, who are getting 35 kg of rice at Rs 2 per kg under the scheme, will have a clear marking in front of their house which could be like this — “Shri Muniram — do rupaye kilo chawal”. The houses of 7.19 lakh Antodaya — poorest among the poor — families will have a similar writing: “Ek rupaye kilo chawal”.

“The state government is getting complaints about ineligible persons securing BPL ration cards and there are families which are in possession of more than one BPL ration card. Besides, ration cards in the name of deceased persons and those who have migrated to other places are also being used to grab benefits meant for the poor,” an official of the Food and Civil Supplies department said. Earlier, it was decided to publicly display the list of BPL ration cardholders on panchayat notice boards and other public places.

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