10-kg free rice distribution in Telangana from Thursday: Kamalakar

HYDERABAD: As per the directions of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), the state government is kick-starting the next phase of free distribution of 10 kg rice to the food security card holders from Thursday. Stating this during a press meet, Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar said that the free 10-kg rice distribution would go on till December.

Kamalakar said that there were 90.01 crore ration cards and 2.834 crore beneficiaries in the state. Of this, the Central government was providing 5 kgs of free rice to only 54.37 lakh ration cards, covering only 1.91 crore beneficiaries. The State Government, while giving them the additional 5 kgs of rice, has also been providing 10 kgs of rice to the remaining 35.64 lakh cards, covering 91.72 lakh beneficiaries.

He said that the Centre had extended another phase of the PMGKY scheme for three months – from October till December – and asserted that the state government would collect 19,057 lakh metric tones of rice for the ration cards in the state, spending an additional Rs 227.25 crores in the next three months at the rate of Rs 75.75 crores per month.

"Ever since PMGKAY started, the state government has spent Rs 1,308 crores on rice alone for over 25 months. In addition to this, Rs 2,454 crore were spent for two months providing financial assistance of Rs 500 for migrant workers and Rs 1,500 for each card holder," the Minister said. With the latest directions from KCR, based on his philosophy that no one should ever starve in the state, every person of the poorer sections will be happy in the state, he added.