A district administration team on Wednesday visited the home of a 66-year-old widow who has not been getting public distribution ration for the last two years and has been surviving on neighbours’ charity.

The visit came against the backdrop of starvation deaths in Jharkhand being linked to allegations of ration not reaching those most in need.

The team, led by Jharia circle officer Rajesh Kumar, visited Phulmani Mahtain at Jorapokhar Basti in Jharia, around 16km from the district headquarters, after news portal www.newswing.com reported about her plight.

“My only daughter married three years ago and lives with her husband and in-laws in Purulia in Bengal,” Mahtain told journalists. “I live alone since the death of my husband, Joga Mahto, about two-and-half years ago. I am not getting food grains for the last two years despite having a ration card. I am somehow surviving with the help of contributions from my neighbours.”

Circle officer Kumar spoke to the ration dealer Anil Agarwal, who admitted that Mahtain’s yellow card meant for Below Poverty Line persons was cancelled two years ago.

Agarwal, however, claimed that he used to give rice to Mahtain free of cost out of generosity.

“We have immediately initiated the process for including the woman under the Annapurna Yojana, in which 10kg of rice is provided per month free of cost to poor people more than 65 years of age,” Kumar told The Telegraph. “We don’t know how her yellow ration card was cancelled, but we will find out and her ration card will also be restored.”