The Bengal government on Tuesday said nearly half of the 9.95 crore ration card holders had availed themselves of their monthly allotment of rice within the first four days of May.

The announcement was clearly aimed at drilling holes into the claims by the BJP’s social media team that poor people in the state were not getting food grains.

“A total of 4.75 crore beneficiaries, which is 48 per cent of total 9.95 crore ration card holders or those having coupons (issued by the food and supplies department), have collected their monthly allotment of food grains supplied free of cost within the first four days of May. A total of 24.9 lakh quintals of foodgrains have already been distributed to the beneficiaries,” state home secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay said at Nabanna on Tuesday.

He said the distribution of such a huge quantity of food grains in a short span of four days meant two things — people were in real need and the state administration worked sincerely to meet the need.

Sources in the food and supplies department said the home secretary’s announcement was actually an effort to assure people that the state government was working hard to ensure the supply of food grains to the beneficiaries at a time protests over the public distribution system raced from one district to another in the past few days.

“A section of beneficiaries had started believing because of provocations from some vested interest groups that the state was not doing enough to secure food grains for the ration card holders,” said an official.

Bandopadhyay also detailed actions taken against errant ration dealers to send out a message that if there was any complaint of irregularities, the government would not hesitate to be tough.

“In the past one-and-a-half months, 359 ration dealers were showcaused, while 64 dealers were suspended. The enforcement department has lodged 45 cases and 50 persons were arrested in connection with ration irregularities. A total of 25 dealers were asked to pay penalty—between Rs 15,000 and Rs 4 lakh — for irregularities,” he said.

In the past few days, parts of Murshidabad, Malda and North 24-Parganas districts were on boil over alleged irregularities in ration distribution.

“People were alleging that they were being given less quantity of food grains than others. The state government has decided to put up clear notices at ration shops mentioning which category of beneficiaries would be entitled to what quantity of food grains. This clarity was required along with the actions against the errant dealers,” said a source.

The government on Tuesday said distribution of pulses could not be started as the state was yet to get the allotment.

Under a central scheme during the lockdown, nearly 6.01 crore people in Bengal would get 1 kg of pulses each every month.

“ A total of 14,500 tons of pulses would be required in the state every month. But we have received only 6,550 tons of pulses from Delhi so far. That is why distribution of pulses could not be started,” said the home secretary.