The Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Shri P Thilothaman today informed that the free ration declared by the Kerala Government was distributed to 63.5% of ration cardholders in the State in just four days. This is a record for the Food and Civil Supplies Department in the State. He said this while addressing a press conference at the PR Chamber in the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram.
12.56 lakh ration card holders collected their food grains today. Since the distribution of free ration through ration shops began on April 01, a total of 55.44 lakh ration cards have been served till now. Across all categories, there are 87.28 lakh ration card holders in Kerala.
Till date, 89,734 metric tonnes of rice and 10,112 metric tonnes of wheat has been distributed. 91 metric tonnes of rice has also been given to community kitchens across the State.
Kerala is probably the only State in the country to have announced one month’s free ration for all ration card holders, both priority and non-priority categories, in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak. The State government would incur an additional expense of Rs.130 crores in this regard.
The distribution of the additional rice announced by the Central Government for priority cardholders will commence on April 20.
