The Telangana government will begin the distribution of free fine rice to ration card holders across the state from Ugadi, Telugu New Year Day, tomorrow. State Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy announced this last evening. Addressing the media, he claimed the scheme as the largest of its kind in the country. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy will be officially launching the scheme tomorrow at a public meeting in Huzurnagar. The Minister further said, every eligible beneficiary will receive six kg of fine rice per month through the Public Distribution System from 1st April. The scheme will be benefiting about three crore 10 lakh people in the state which is nearly 85 per cent of the state population.
The Minister further said coarse rice was distributed till now, which led to low consumption and widespread black marketing. He also said the state currently has around 90 lakh ration cards, covering 2.85 crore people and the government plans to add 30 lakh new cards after verifying pending applications, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 3 crore and 10 lakhs.
