Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy has ordered officials to complete the verification of applications for new ration cards received in gram sabhas during the Telangana caste survey and at Mee Seva centres at the earliest. He directed to make immediate arrangements across the state during a review meeting with the civil supplies officials on Monday, February 17.
CM Revanth also inquired about the surge of crowds at Mee Seva centers despite extending the application deadline several times. Officials explained that many families submitted applications repeatedly, contributing to the rush. The chief minister said that such a situation would not have arisen if the cards were issued immediately.
The chief minister stated that since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is currently in effect in certain districts due to the upcoming Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) elections, new ration cards should only be issued in districts not covered by the MCC.
The MCC is in place for the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates’ Constituency and Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Teachers’ Constituency elections on February 27. The term of the members of the two constituencies (MLCs), T Jeevan Reddy and Kura Raghotham Reddy is set to expire on March 29.
He assured the new ration cards will be issued in all districts once the election code is lifted. The chief minister also examined several designs for new ration cards prepared by the Civil Supplies Department at the meeting.
6.68L families identified for new ration cards
The Telangana government has identified 6.68 lakh underprivileged families in the state eligible for new ration cards, a list of which has been sent to all district representatives in the state.
The names of 11,65,052 individuals are a part of this list of families.
The state will hold gram and basti sabhas inviting objections between January 20 to 24 following which a final list will be confirmed based on information provided by district collectors, expected to begin on January 26.
So far 30,000 applications have been received.
The issuing of these ration cards in Telangana will help in pushing other schemes promised by the Congress government including Aarogyasri, free electricity up to 200 units, Rs 500 gas cylinders, and fee reimbursement for students.
The eligibility for the cards and other schemes will be based on the Comprehensive Family Survey conducted by the government of Telangana in November last year.
According to the preliminary list, Hyderabad has the highest number of eligible families, with 83,285 families, while Vanaparthi district has the lowest number with 6,647 families.
