Over 13,000 ration cards surrendered in Goa in past 5 years

Panaji: Over the last five years, 13,476 ration cards have been surrendered in the state across the 12 talukas, as per data of the state civil supplies department. The data shows that during the period from 2020 up to Sep 2025, Sattari is leading the list with 2,482 households having surrendered their ration cards.

Based on central govt’s directives, Goa govt had issued an order asking families whose annual income exceeds Rs 50,000 to give up their ration cards.

After Sattari, Bardez had the most number of ration card surrendered at 1,945, closely followed by Tiswadi with 1,648 surrenders.

Civil supplies deputy director Amit Sawant said, “A major reason why households are surrendering their ration cards is because of the rise in their family’s annual income. Many of the earning members of the family also bag govt jobs, which makes it mandatory for them to give up their ration cards.”

Of the total 2.62 lakh ration cardholders in Goa, 13.5k gave up their cards where households belonged to the priority household (PHH) Antyoday Anna Yojana (AAY) and above poverty line (APL) categories, as they are witnessing upward mobility

Darbhandora taluka saw the least ration cards being surrendered at 429, followed by Ponda taluka with 541 surrenders and Sanguem Taluka with 629.

Ration cards can be surrendered by submitting the departmental form D to the respective taluka civil supplies offices within 30 days.

Centre had instructed states to identify and weed out ineligible beneficiaries from the public distribution system (PDS), and those found to be ineligible are required to surrender their cards. The directive is specifically aimed at those who do not meet the eligibility criteria under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), such as taxpayers, govt employees, etc.

The operational responsibility for identifying eligible families and eliminating bogus or ineligible cards rests with the state govts.

Provisions exist for citizens to voluntarily surrender their ration cards if they become ineligible.