A glitch in the software of Delhi government's Food and Supply department has apparently deprived thousands of Below Poverty Line and Antodaya card holders in the city of ration since the past five months.

This came to light when a plea of an RTI applicant, who had sought to know the reason for the abrupt stopping of ration supply for these card holder in 70 Circles of Delhi, came up before the Central Information Commission.

"The Assistant Commissioner of North East District has admitted that because of an error in their computer programme, thousands of BPL persons whose biometric data was collected for getting ration have been denied ration supplies," Shailesh Gandhi, Information Commissioner, CIC said.

Since August this year, the ration supply for thousands of BPL and Antodaya card holders in 70 circles of Delhi were stopped suddenly, it said.

When Marjeena, a resident of Seemapuri and a ration card holder, filed an RTI application in the month of August seeking the reason for the same, the PIO, Food and Supplies Department replied that the the cards were cancelled.

"When the matter came up with the CIC, we found that the information sought by the appellant has been provided in December. After such a long time the government has been unable to tell the BPL card holder why she is not getting her due entitlements. This shows that the government's programme to ensure that the poor gets its entitlement has not been able to deliver even in the Capital of this country because of gross inefficiency," Gandhi said.

The Commissioner has directed the PIO to provide compensation of Rs 2,000 to the information seekers for not providing the information in set time limit.

The Commission also directed the Food Commissioner to provide reasons why the ration has not been provided to the appellant.