Delhi Govt Distributes 5-KG Foodgrains To People Without Ration Cards

As part of relief measures announced by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last month, the Delhi government began distributing foodgrains to people without ration cards through the city's 280 government schools on Saturday, June 5.

Food and Civil Supplies Minister Imran Hussain held a meeting to evaluate the distribution system of free ration to the Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries as well the ones without it before kickstarting the initiative. Four kilograms of wheat and one kilogram of rice comprised of the five kilograms foodgrain packet that was distributed to the needy.

The initiative has been primarily launched to help the underprivileged who do not have ration cards and have been struggling to get food amid the second wave of coronavirus and the extended lockdown to contain it. Daily wage earners, migrant labourers, building and construction workers, and domestic help have been mostly among the non-PDS beneficiaries.

"The non-PDS ration is being distributed from designated schools from 10 am to 4 pm with weekly-off on Sunday. The fair price shops are open on all seven days to provide free of cost ration to National Food Security (NFS) beneficiaries from 9 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 7 pm without any weekly off," the minister said, reported NDTV.

Each school designated for the distribution of non-PDS rations has been given a login id and password for entering stock for record-keeping and registration at the site.

On May 4, Kejriwal declared that in May and June, ration for the 7.2 million PDS beneficiaries would be provided for free. On May 18, he had announced that persons without ration cards would be given free rations as well. Reports have, however, stated that the distribution was delayed and a certain section of the society had urged the government to promptly act on the promises to protect the economically vulnerable.

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