THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Food Minister G R Anil will inaugurate the distribution of priority ration cards to 45,127 families. The function will be held at Ayyankali Hall in Thiruvananthapuram at 11 am on Thursday. As many as 12,302 applications for priority cards were received at the Nava Kerala Sadas, the minister told reporters on Wednesday. Of these, 590 have been approved and the remaining applications are being examined. So far, the government has issued 4,12,913 priority ration cards.
The minister said that 59,269 farmers have registered for the procurement programme in the second cropping season. A total of 25.49 MT of paddy has been procured. Arrangements have been made to give money to the farmers within 15 days. The Centre is yet to provide Rs 1266.14 crore to the state on account of paddy procurement. The minister said that Rs 252 crore is spent on door-to-door distribution of ration goods in Kerala.