For the past four years, Badrinath, a landless farmer of Nalai village, has been moving for pillar to post to get his name included in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list, but to no avail. With nine members of his family on the verge of starvation, he approached the authorities concerned to issue him a BPL card, but the officials expressed their helplessness in doing so. "The whole system has been politicised in this remote area of Udhampur district,' rued Dharinder Singh, who alleged that influential people had been taking benefits of the policies meant for the poor and marginalised lot. "Only the names of political workers have been included in the BPL list,' said a local official on the condition of anonymity. He disclosed that due to political affiliation, families of government employees and sarpanches had managed to get BPL cards. Echoing a similar tale, Jeet Singh of Nalai village, said he had no hope of getting his name included in the BPL list. "Except repeated assurances, the authorities have done nothing to include deserving people in the BPL list,' he said. Dhandal panchayat, falling under the Chenani constituency of Udhampur district, comprises eight small hamlets. Being one of the backward panchayats of the district, more than 40 per cent of the population is BPL, but most of the deserving families have been excluded from the list. "The existing BPL lists were prepared way back in 1975 after a comprehensive door-to-door survey,' Desraj, a local resident told The Tribune. Although the lists were revised a number of time, the names of only influential families were included in the list. Ironically, the left out deserving BPL families have been advised by the authorities to file an objection before the project director, DRDA, Udhampur, but most of the people are unaware about the DRDA department. Also some families who had filed objections, had yet not received any response.