Ration card holder can get ration anywhere in the State: Khammam Collector

Khammam: The State government has allowed ration card holders to get essential commodities from any ration shop across the State under the portability scheme, District Collector VP Gautham said on Tuesday.

The Collector said the government, taking it up as priority, sanctioned new ration cards ending the long wait for the people. He along with Sathupalli MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah distributed ration cards to beneficiaries at Kallur in the district on Tuesday.

Gautham informed that a total of 2, 500 ration cards have been sanctioned in Sathupalli Assembly constituency. He wanted the people in the constituency to continue Palle, Pattana Pragathi programmes for developing the towns and villages.

MLA Veeraiah said the government has sanctioned around nine lakh new ration cards across the State to benefit the poorer sections. The Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao decided to clear the pending applications as he was aware of the plight of the poor people.

About 90 lakh families have ration cards issued in the past. It was also decided to look into the applications pending due to several reasons and to issue new ration cards in the next phase, he noted.

Steps were being taken to extend old age pensions to those above 57 years of age. Similarly the government was taking measures to give financial assistance to those who have their own house plots to build houses, Veeraiah said.

The Collector and MLA visited Palle Prakriti Vanam at Kallur and planted saplings. District Panchayat Officer Prabhakar Rao, District Rural Development Officer Vidyachandana, DRO, Suryanarayana and others were present.