Govt. to issue ration cards to eligible BPL families after Sankranti, says Civil Supplies Minister

Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy in the Assembly on Thursday.

Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has announced that the State government has decided to issue ration cards to eligible below poverty line families after Sankranti.

The government has also resolved to supply 6 kg fine rice each to members of the families holding the white ration cards in a couple of months. “These families are being given coarse rice as part of the public distribution system so far. We will give fine rice to BPL families availing the benefit through the PDS,” the Minister said.

The Minister was replying to a query during the Question Hour in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday. He replied in the negative when asked whether the government was planning to scrap the PDS system and replace it with the direct benefit transfer scheme on the lines of the Central government. “There is no proposal to scrap the PDS system,” he said.

Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the government was yet to decide on adding additional items to the list of those being provided through ration shops. It was however actively considering providing insurance cover to dealers of the ration shops. Stating that there were reports of recycling of the rice supplied through ration shops, he said stringent action was being initiated against those indulging in such irregularities and cases were being registered against them under the provisions of the Preventive Detention Act.

He said there were 17,256 ration shops in the State as of now and viability issues were being considered in issuing permissions for new shops. The government was providing a commission of ₹140 per quintal to the dealers every month as their margin had been doubled from ₹70 last year.

Ration shop dealers had requested to enhance their commission to ₹300 per quintal and they also sought an honorarium of ₹30,000 per month in rural areas and ₹ 35,000 to ₹40,000 in urban areas. The department had circulated a file in this regard to the government for taking a decision as payment of honorarium involved financial implications.