Hyderabad, June 6 -- Residents of West Bengal who were excluded from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls face the prospect of losing their ration and other welfare benefits, after the state's Civil Supplies Department announced it would mark the ration cards of such individuals as "inactive."

Those flagged as absent, shifted, duplicate or dead in the draft list published in December last year will be ineligible for Public Distribution System (PDS) benefits. People omitted from electoral rolls in subsequent supplementary lists, unmapped voters excluded after the hearing process and persons removed from the rolls after adjudication will also lose access to subsidised ration.

The order, issued on the basis of the SIR th...