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Offline rotatopoti3

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‘Wealthy people’ using food cards
« on: December 02, 2011, 04:58:13 PM »
‘Wealthy people’ using food cards
By Clint Chan Tack Friday, December 2 2011

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Minister, Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh, yesterday said he was shocked to discover that under the former PNM government, “wealthy people” had access to the Food Card which is supposed to help the most vulnerable persons in society to purchase food.

Ramadharsingh made the observation at the post Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, in St Ann’s as he announced that his ministry will launch a one-off disposable pre-paid food card “to meet the immediate needs of persons living in poverty, and of victims of national disaster.”

“When we began to clean up the programme as it was, it was the supermarket dealers who were able to identify many persons who we put under an internal review process, and we were able to weed out almost 3,000 persons from the programme,” he stated.

Ramadharsingh said many supermarket dealers were troubled that “some people who were wealthy were carrying cards,” and reported it to the ministry.

Expanding on that point, Ramadharsingh said he was advised that, “people with SUVs (sports utility vehicles) were swiping cards. Against such a background, Ramadharsingh said his ministry was re-branding the Food Card. One of the features of the one-off disposable Food Card is that it will be biometric. Explaining that US$5 million from a US$1.5 billion loan which Government signed with the Inter-American Development Bank on Wednesday will be used for this objective, Ramadharsingh said: “When we go biometric, we will cut out a lot of the fraud.”

Saying a biometric card will allow the ministry to track its holder throughout the system, Ramadharsingh said the use of these kinds of cards will reduce instances of fraud by a minimum of 15 percent.

He said he was advised this would result in “$30 million in savings every year.” To ensure that the right persons receive these cards, and the system is not abused in any manner, Ramadharsingh said applicants will have to undergo a “means test” administered by a qualified person before they qualify to receive a card, and they will be reviewed every three months to determine whether they still need to have the card.. Stating the cards will have multiple applications by allowing holders to use them to obtain their pensions or disability grants, Ramadharsingh said the cards will be printed in a color similar to other cards so they would be “non discriminatory” to the holders.

He also said that many food card holders felt embarrassed to show these cards at supermarkets to purchase food because the cards were distinguishable by their red, white and black colours.

Ramadharsingh said under these cards indigent persons will be able to purchase up to $410 per month in food items, while a single mother with two or more children can access up to $720 per month in food items.

He added that these cards will be important for victims of natural disasters, who are hungry and cannot wait for food hampers to be distributed to them. “We cannot postpone hunger,” Ramadharsingh said.
Ah say it, how ah see it

 

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