Delhi to give 2k food coupons to MLAs, MPs for food distribution among poor (Ld)
New Delhi, April 21 (IANS) The Delhi government will give 2,000 food coupons each to all the MLAs and MPs in the city for distribution of ration among the needy who do not have ID cards in the wake of the coronavirus induced lockdown, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday.
He said the Delhi government will give free ration to 30 lakh additional people who do not have ration cards but have Aadhaar cards and applied online for ration.
“Today we have decided to ensure the food security of the people in need. We have already given free ration of 7.5 Kg for this month to 71 lakh ration cardholders and 5 kg free ration to 10 lakh non-ration cardholders,” Kejriwal said.
He said the government has received nearly 38 lakh applications from the non-ration cardholders.
“The Delhi government has decided to give free ration to around 30 lakh people who do not have ration cards. This way we will give free ration to around 1 crore people. Delhi has a population of 2 crore and we will give free ration to half of Delhi’s total population,” said the Chief Minister.
He explained that the 30 lakh people are those who have applied online based on their ID cards like Aadhaar, but there are people in Delhi who do not have any ID card.
“Many people come to Delhi for some months to earn money but are now stuck in the city due to the lockdown. To ensure free ration to such people, the Delhi government today decided that we will give 2,000 food coupons to each MLA and MP of Delhi across all the political parties,” the Chief Minister said.
He said each of these coupons will be applicable to get 5 kg of free ration.
“The MPs and MLAs can give these coupons to people who do not have ration card or any ID proof,” Kejriwal said.
The Chief Minister also announced that along with next month’s ration, a kit having other daily use items like soap, salt etc. will also be given to the people.
“We have also decided that from the next month (May), along with the ration which will be given from April 28 or 29 onwards, we will also give a kit containing essential items such as salt, chhole, sugar, haldi, edible oil, soap, masala and daliya. This kit will be given to everyone who is getting the ration (both cardholders and non-cardholders),” Kejriwal said.
The essential item kit will have one liter of refined oil; 1 kg chhole; 1 kg sugar; 1 kg salt; 200 gm haldi powder; 200 gm dania powder; 200 gm chilli powder; and 2 soap bars (60-75 gm).
–IANS
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