Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday launched door delivery of rice to ration card holders along with a fleet of 2,500 Mobile Dispensing Units from Vijayawada. The CM flagged off the fleet of vehicles today. The CM said that he was moved by the plight of elderly and differently-abled people who were kept waiting in long queues to get the ration supplies. “My government has taken the initiative to provide good quality rice and other ration supplies right at the doorstep of the ration cardholders. The government aims to deliver good quality rice to the cardholder through a mobile vehicle, with an additional cost of Rs 830 crore per annum to the government,” he said.
The CM said that during the previous TDP regime, the percentage of husk and colored grains under the PDS were high and that a majority of people rejected the rations. “To resolve this, the government has decided to provide cardholders with better quality rice by giving Swarna variety. The Civil Supplies Department made drastic changes during the procurement of rice by reducing the husk and broken rice to a great extent. For the first time, a quality sortex rice is being given to the cardholders, with zero percent of stones and less than one percent of dyed or damaged grains,’’ Reddy said.
Using the village and ward volunteers system, the rice will be distributed at the doorstep of the cardholders by taking their fingerprints and supplying ration in reusable bags with precise weight. Every bag of rice is sealed and tagged with a unique code, leaving zero scopes for adulteration. By fitting GPS to all mobile vehicles, cardholders will be able to know the delivery details in real-time through the mobile app and each vehicle has to deliver the goods for an average of 18 days per month.
Nearly 9,260 mobile vehicles were purchased at a cost of Rs 539 crore to deliver the ration supplies and these vehicles were provided by the government at 60 percent subsidy to eligible beneficiaries through various corporations under the Employment Guarantee Scheme for unemployed youth.