Ration cards for all by April end: Etela Rajender

Minister for Finance Etela Rajender said on Wednesday that ration cards would be issued to all the applicants by the end of April. Replying to the debate on the demands of the Civil Supplies Department, he informed that over 2.5 lakh applications were received for issue of ration cards and nearly 75,000 of them were already considered.

There was no truth in the argument that the white ration cards were being cancelled on different grounds. Out of 1.3 crore families in the State, 85 lakh families were getting the Re 1 a kg rice against the white cards.

The State government had raised the income ceiling in rural area from Rs 60,000 per annum to Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 70,000 to Rs 2 lakhs in urban areas to reach out to more families with the subsidised rice.Neither the white cards were removed nor the white card holders were deprived of any of the benefits, though BPL norms set notified by the Centre for this purpose would have resulted in



this. The state had no intention to weed out the cards.

The Mandal Revenue Officers (MROs) were also asked to use their discretion to recommend white cards taking the economic status of the family concerned if it was not found eligible otherwise.

The State government had introduced portability of the ration cards enabling families to lift their quota of rice and essential commodities from fair price shops of their choice in the event of migration to a new town or village even for a temporary period.

The government had already given its order for printing of the new ration cards. The printing was stopped half way through to get clarification from the Centre whether the photos of the chief minister and civil supplies minister can be printed in the cards. This clarification was needed as it is part of the initiative to ensure food security. But no clarification was received so far.