Hyderabad, June 13 Tennis star Sania Mirza may be a millionaire but her face appears on a ration card belonging to a below poverty line (BPL) family in Andhra Pradesh.
The white ration card, which makes a family eligible to get rice at a highly-subsidised price of Rs 2-a-kg and social security benefits health insurance and a permanent housing, has been issued to one Laxmi of Vizianagaram district with a photograph of Sania.
The revelation of the case has invited the wrath of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy who reviewed the social security schemes at a high-level meeting here today, sources in the CMO said.
This only showed how blindly the ration cards were issued without any proper verification, the Chief Minister reportedly fumed at officials of the Civil Supplies Department. While the state population is about 8.3 crore, the population figure, as per the number of ration cards issued, crossed 9.8 crore.
The Chief Minister himself revealed in the state Assembly three days ago that there were as many as 2.15 crore white ration cards, making those families eligible to draw subsidised rice and avail of other welfare schemes. PTI