THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A whopping 63.5 per cent of ration cardholders has availed themselves of the free ration announced by the state government in the aftermath of Covid-19, that too in just four days. “This is a record for the food and civil supplies department. As many as 12.56 lakh ration card holders received the foodgrain on Saturday. After the distribution of free ration through ration shops began on Wednesday, a total of 55.44 lakh ration cards has been served till now.
Across all categories, there are 87.28 lakh ration card holders in Kerala,” Food and Civil Supplies Minister P Thilothaman told reporters here on Saturday.Till date, 89,734 metric tonnes of rice and 10,112 metric tonnes of wheat have been distributed, with 91 metric tonnes of rice provided to community kitchens across the state.
Post Covid, the state is providing one month’s free ration for all ration card holders belonging to both priority and non-priority category. The distribution of additional rice for priority cardholders announced by the central government will start on April 20.