Delhi govt places fresh order to streamline distribution of food grains scheme

Over the past two weeks, beneficiaries faced a lot of problems with the distribution centres running out of food grains due to huge demand.

The Delhi government has placed fresh orders to procure 5,000 metric tonnes (MT) of wheat and rice to ensure no more hiccups in its scheme to provide free food grains to people without ration cards in the city, senior officials said on Saturday.

Under the scheme, which was implemented on June 5, each beneficiary gets 4kg wheat and 1kg rice. (AFP)

“A large number of people turned up at our centres over the past two weeks. The demand was clearly way more than what we had expected. But people should not panic. Delhi government will provide free ration to every deserving person and no one will return empty handed from our centres. We have placed orders with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for more food grains, which will arrive soon,” said Imran Hussain, Delhi food and civil supplies minister.

Over the past two weeks, beneficiaries faced a lot of problems with the distribution centres running out of food grains due to huge demand. Till Friday, centres set up at schools in Hauz Rani, Munirka, Shahpur Jat, RK Puram, Ber Sarai continued to send people back citing shortage of stock, said functionaries on the ground.

On Saturday, Hussain said the government has “taken note of all the grievances” reported by people. “We assure you that things will be further streamlined in the coming days to make the entire process smooth and hassle-free. The Aam Aadmi Party government believes that ration is the right of people,” he said.

On May 18, Kejriwal announced that people without ration cards too will get free food grains, pegging the number of beneficiaries at 2 million over and above those covered under the public distribution system. Under the scheme, which was implemented on June 5, each beneficiary gets 4kg wheat and 1kg rice.

Department reports showed that from June 5 till Saturday afternoon, the Delhi government distributed 5,000MT of food grains to 450,000 beneficiaries through 280 centres. Each ward in Delhi has one distribution centre set up in a government school.

Himanshu Bisht, a resident of East Vinod Nagar who got his package of ration on Saturday, said the system does not require prior registration. “I just had to show my Aadhaar card and got 5kg of free ration. A lot of us have had to face pay cuts and have even lost our jobs. This scheme of the Delhi government has proved to be extremely helpful,” he said.

Kalyan Rai, a resident of Seelampur, said these are walk-in centres. “I just walked in at the school near my jhuggi. The officials took details such as my name, parentage, mobile number, Aadhaar and so on. Then an SMS was sent on my mobile number after which I got my ration,” she said.

Officials said even those without a mobile phone are being given free ration. “Those who cannot provide a mobile number are being given a code (token) generated in the system on the spot, after which ration is given to them. If one doesn’t have any ID proof, we still give ration for one person. If all the members of a family have Aadhaar cards, then everyone will get 5kg ration each,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

The 280 free ration centres remain open from 10am to 4pm on all working days, except on gazetted holidays and on Sundays. Apart from walking in at any of these centres, people can also call up the 1031 helpline, to identify the location of schools from which ration is being distributed.