The Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department called off its special mustering camp for priority ration cardholders and resumed distribution of ration supplies on Saturday.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil said the decision was taken to provide both the National Informatics Centre and the State IT Mission further time to resolve the technical glitches that impeded the exercise a day ago.
He also sought to allay concerns among beneficiaries regarding the lack of time left to update their e-KYC details. The Centre had fixed the month as the deadline to ensure normal allocation of essential commodities from April onwards.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan wrote to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Mr. Anil seeking effective steps to complete the mustering process urgently to avert a crisis in ration distribution. He claimed the Opposition had earlier flagged the frequent problems posed by the server of the State IT Mission in the functioning of the e-POS machine used in ration outlets.
Sabari K-Rice
Meanwhile, Mr. Anil told mediapersons here that 6,62,167 kg of rice had been distributed under the Sabari K-Rice brand among 1,33,026 consumers since March 13.
He added that Supplyco would soon have adequate stock of subsidised goods with the tender process for all essential commodities except sugar complete. Around 20 suppliers participated in the tender process.
The Minister said the department would soon commence distribution of 19,384 priority household (PHH) ration cards to beneficiaries who had applied for the priority cards to receive benefits under the National Food Security Act.
