Jaipur, Aug. 23 -- Sumit Godara is minister for Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs in the Rajasthan government. The minister has stayed away from controversies and focused on his department, carrying out a much-talked about campaign to weed out ineligible beneficiaries from the National Food Security Act (NFSA). In an interview with HT, Godara talks about the various campaigns taken up by his department. Excerpts: With a population of 80 million, the cap for beneficiaries under NFSA in Rajasthan was 40.46 million. Taking inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'give up' campaign, we began a similar campaign in the state. We did not want to make it punitive but let people take the lead. I can tell you that the campaign has been very successful and till date, with 69,27,177 people voluntarily giving up the food subsidy, along with another 2.6 million people who have not got e-KYC done are not covered under the scheme. On January 26, 2025, chief minister Bhajanlal Sharma opened the NFSA portal and we have been able to add 13 million people so far under the scheme. Apart from the free ration, the beneficiaries are getting benefits of state schemes such as 12 gas cylinders in a year at Rs.450, free treatment up to Rs.25 lakh and free accident insurance up to Rs.10 lakh. After I assumed charge of the department, I toured all the 41 districts to understand the ground situation. I met district officials, food department officials, public representatives and found that the poor and deprived sections were left out of the food scheme. So from May to December 2024, we ran the campaign, urging people who were not eligible to opt out. We ran the campaign on social media, using influencers and stand-up comedians to get the message across. Yes, the Congress government did not open the NFSA portal to add deserving beneficiaries. After we opened the portal, many Congress MLAs thanked me for adding beneficiaries from their constituencies. They said they had asked former chief minister Ashok Gehlot to open the portal during the Congress regime but they were not heeded. Now most of those added are from SC, ST and other deprived sections who need the scheme. No, the situation is normal. During the war situation, we made delivery authentication code and diary entry mandatory. This helped us plug leakage. Prior to this, the daily gas cylinder bookings were 350,000 per day and after the digital authentication was introduced, it came down to 260,000 per day. So, 90,000 cylinders were going through the grey market. The cylinders were being siphoned off for commercial use. Domestic cylinders are available at Rs.980 while commercial ones are Rs.1900. In the legal metrology department, which ensures accuracy of commercial weights and measures, we are carrying out campaigns in different consumer segments every fortnight to check that there is no cheating with consumers. We have carried out checks on weighing bridges, CNG pumps, gas cylinders, petrol pumps and packing material. We have brought a young IITian, Alok Jarwal to head the department and under his guidance, teams are regularly conducting campaigns....