Telangana Government To Introduce New Ration Cards

The Government of Telangana will introduce new ration cards shortly.

The decision was taken during a meeting held by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to review the civil supplies department's activities, with specific focus on ration cards.

The Chief Minister said that there were 83.59 lakh households eligible for white ration cards in Telangana, but 91 lakh cards had been issued, accounting for an excess of 7 lakhs.

In addition there were 15 lakh pink ration cards over and above the required number, and thus there were 22 lakh excess cards in the State, including white and pink.

The Chief Minister asked the officials to find out if the excess cards were with the ration shop dealers, and if so, issue a warning to all dealers who possessed the excess cards to surrender them immediately, failing which severe action would be initiated against them.

All ineligible ration cards, both pink and white, will be withdrawn forthwith, he said.

KCR told the officials that when he mentioned this fact in the Assembly, the members all agreed to initiate action against the guilty, and the mood of the house was against the illegal ration cards.

He said that he was very much worried about the ration cards issue, and about how the systems were wrecked during the tenures of the previous governments.

He desired that everything be streamlined and an integrated approach be taken so that the poorest of the poor did not suffer.

The Chief Minister also instructed the officials to initiate action to overcome the shortage of petrol in the northern parts of Telangana.

Finance Minister Etela Rajendra, Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao, Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma, Principal Secretary to the CM S Narsing Rao, Commissioner of Civil Supplies C Parthasarathy, and Managing Director of the Civil Supplies Corporation Anil Kumar attended the meeting. (INN)