Bhubaneswar, July 31: Many rich people were ration card holders and taking Centre's free rice in the BJD government. Everything was happening under Naveen Patnaik's knowledge.  Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patro claimed  such irregularities in the State Assembly today. 

"Farmers' rice was heating the pockets of BJD leaders," the Minister said in response to a question from BJP MLA Tankadhar Tripathy. 
He assured that rice would be available to all eligible beneficiaries henceforth. 
The Minister even alleged that PDS dealers were stealing rice and giving its cost to the BJD to meet election expenditures. He said strict action would be taken against the corrupt dealers. 
The Minister said as many as 16,27,932 ghost ration card holders have been identified so far. The government has planned to exclude ineligible beneficiaries through e-KYC. 
He said rice would be handed over to eligible cardholders if they failed to reach the dealers' outlet.