Over 22,000 stranded migrants get ration kits, GB Nagar admin preparing database of needy people

Noida:

Noida:

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Amid reports that many stranded migrant workers are battling hunger in Gautam Budh Nagar, the district administration on Friday initiated an exercise to prepare the database of such people who are in need of help. Over 1,200 government employees are in the field to make the database, officials said on Saturday.

Also, the officials claimed that over 22,000 families of stranded migrants were provided with ration kits over the past 24 hours in the district. One ration packet is sufficient for a family for one week, they said.

While the stranded migrants are now getting ration, new ration cards are also being issued to the eligible families who are resident of Uttar Pradesh, the officials said.

Of 22,000 ration kits, 11,000 were the government kits consisting of nine essential food items acquired from the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) while remaining were acquired through donations by city residents or through the corporate social responsibility (CSR).

“A number of migrant families were facing hunger like situation. However, the issue was to spot them. Thus a team of over 1,200 officials are in the field to recognise and enlist such families so that benefits reach them. This is a rolling process and the list is still being updated. So far, over 22,000 families were identified and they have been supplied with kits,” said MN Upadhyay, additional district magistrate (finance), Gautam Budh Nagar, who is looking after the ration distribution works among the migrants.

He said that the administration had sent a demand of 26,000 ration kits to NAFED, of which 18,000 had been received till Saturday.

“Each family will get one kit per week. The standard ration kit has nine items that include five kg atta, five kg rice, three kg potatoes, one kg masoor dal, one kg salt, one litre mustard oil, 200 grams coriander powder, 200 grams turmeric and 200 grams of chili powder. Besides, the CSR kits are also being distributing to the needy people,” Upadhyay said.

“We have received feedback that about 30% of the migrant families did not turn up when the ration was being distributed in their areas. We are trying to contact them as well,” he added.

Meanwhile, 10,000 new ration cards were issued to the eligible migrant families between May 1 and 2. The officials said that in past 24 hours, they have recognised 11,500 such families, belonging to low-income group, who did not carry a ration card and thus were unable to buy ration from the fair price shops.

“We have already issued 10,000 ration cards so far, and will issue more depending on the demands. There are a total of 378 fair price shops across the district. Each cardholder will soon start receiving one kilo channa dal free of cost. We are actively monitoring the public distribution system,” said RN Yadav, district supply officer.

“Of 1,85,000 cardholders in the district, about 63% have already received their weekly quota between Friday and Saturday,” Yadav said.

When contacted, a number of migrant families stated that they have received the ration kits.

“We received ration on Saturday and so did our neighbours, but the quantity was different. Also, it is not clear when will we be supplied again. The ration kit I received had 2 kg atta and rice, half kg dal, oil and sugar, washing and bathing soaps, and a small packet of tea leaf,” said Jyoti Sahu at Shahdara village in Noida Sector 141, a stranded migrant from Madhya Pradesh, who serves as domestic help in the neighbouring high-rises of Sector 137.

However, some migrants complained that they were left out. Munnu Kumar Singh, a migrant from Darbhanga district in Bihar who stays at Shahdara village, failed to receive the ration kit. “Some families received the kits and some did not. The persons distributing the kits said that only those with their names in the list will receive. Now, we have given our names as well. They saw our Aadhaar cards, but did not tell us when the ration will arrive,” he said.