As a white ration card holder, Akuthota Sudhakar, should have an income of between Rs 60,000 and Rs 70,000 a year. White ration cards are given to those judged to be living below the poverty line. Yet, this resident of Warangal put in a bid of Rs 3.46 crore to obtain a liquor licence for his shop Sri SSS Wines in Rangasahipet!
Meet Warangal’s 10 richest BPL men whose names have appeared on a list obtained under the Right to Information Act (RTI). The information, sought from the excise wings of both Warangal and Mahbubabad circles in the district, has revealed that there are many such BPL ration card holders who have bid mind-boggling amounts in the liquor licence auctions.
BPL card holder paid Rs 3.46 cr for liquor shop
The topmost honour for the highest bid of Rs 3.46cr for liquor licences goes to Mr Sudhakar (cardholder number WAP2-181239A0595), one of the four key liquor syndicate members arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau during the first phase of its investigation into the liquor scam. Close on his heels is Mr J. Raju of Srinivasa Wines in Nellutla in Jangaon, also a supposedly poor man, who bid Rs 3.28 crore.
Mr T. Ratnakar, owner of Maruti Wines in Palakurthy bid for Rs 2.66 crore and Mr B. Ashok, owner of Manjira Wines of Hanamkonda Old Bus Depot bid for Rs 2.50 crore. Mr Akuthota Madhu bid for Rs 2.39 crore. The next five “poor rich” men are: Mr Veeragoni Rajkumar of Sai Surya Wines who bid for Rs 2.35 crore, Mr Kolla Venkataiah of Tirumala Wines (Rs 2.31 crore), Mr P. Ratnakar Reddy of Srilakshmi Narasimha Swamy Wines (Rs 2.20 crore), Mr P. Vamshi (Kaushik Wines (Rs 2.17 crore) and Mr K. Nagesh of Parklane Wines (Rs 2.16 crore).
Though the scam is evident, the district civil supply department is yet to cancel their white ration cards. “We have not yet received any instructions from the state to cancel the BPL cards of the rich,” said Ms A. Usha Rani, district supplier officer, Warangal, who blames the tehsildars of the respective mandals for including the rich among the BPL card beneficiaries.