Former Health Minister of Punjab and senior Congress leader Balbir Singh Sidhu termed the state government’s decision to issue 1 million new ration cards as merely an election stunt. He expressed apprehension that after the elections, these cards may face the same fate as the millions of ration cards that were previously cancelled.
Sidhu said that some time ago, the state government had cancelled around 1.1 million ration cards in the state citing central government guidelines. He questioned that if the government is now saying that every family—except those having a member in a government job—will be issued a ration card, then under what rules were those 1.1 million families earlier declared ineligible?
He asked whether those families were deprived of their rightful food grains due to government negligence. He also questioned whether the affected families would be compensated with the ration they had missed during that period.
The former minister said that in a democracy, public welfare should be paramount, but this can only be ensured if government policies reflect stability and honesty—qualities that he claimed are missing in the government led by Bhagwant Mann. He stated that while the decision to issue new ration cards may appear pro-people on the surface, the government’s intent behind it has raised serious questions in the minds of the public.
The Congress leader expressed concern that it is often seen that such populist schemes are announced close to elections and later discontinued in the name of “review” once the elections are over. He said the government should clarify whether these cards will remain permanently valid or if they will be cancelled again after a few months.
Sidhu strongly demanded that the government should not only immediately restore all cancelled ration cards but also compensate poor families—either with food grains or cash—for the period during which their ration was stopped. He added that true public welfare would only be reflected when the government corrects its past mistakes and provides affected families with their rightful benefits, rather than engaging in paperwork merely to win elections.