Telangana govt. to distribute free rice to ration cardholders from today

The Telangana government led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to distribute free ration rice of 10 kg per person to the people of Telangana from October to December amid the extension of the PMGKY scheme by the central government.

Telangana Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar who held a press meet on Thursday stated free rice distribution in Telangana will begin from today. He said that 10 kg of ration rice will be distributed free of cost to 90 lakh cardholders in the state to benefit 2.84 crore beneficiaries other than the center's share, which provides 5 kg rice to 54.37 lakh cards equals 1.91 crore beneficiaries.

Stating that the government will collect an additional 19,057 lakh metric tonnes of rice to distribute rice to all the ration card holders in the state, Minister Gangula Kamalakar said that the state government will have to spend an additional budget of Rs. 227.25 crores in the next three months at the rate of Rs. 75.75 crores per month.

It is known that in the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 March, the central government has decided to assist the poor and middle-class people with free five kg of rice each person under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to all ration cardholders.