Bengaluru: The State government will distribute ration through fair price shops on credit for BPL card holder families, said Food and Civil Supplies minister U T Khader.
Addressing mediapersons Khader said that demonetisation had led to shortage of money for families and also posed the problem of finding small currency for Public Distribution System outlets. Ration will distributed on credit till November and if the problem doesn’t solve till then, it will be extended till December. BPL card holders will get sugar, oil, salt and wheat for credit, he said.
“The monthly quota of ration would cost Rs. 42 a family, excluding the free rice. But many of the families are facing problems due to demonetisation. To give them some relief we have decided to provide ration on credit,” said Khader.
He said the state had about one crore BPL card-holding families who get their PDS ration from nearly 20,000 fair price shops. “Providing ration on credit would cost an additional burden of Rs 40 crore a month,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the minister stated that there was a possibility of BPL cardholders losing their benefits if their bank accounts showed an income of more than Rs. 2.5 lakh during the ongoing demonetisation exercise.
