New sops for middle class for ration card holders in Telangana

Hyderabad: Telangana state government is all set to issue uniform coloured ration cards to all the households based on the data collected in the recent household survey. Interestingly, the “pink-party” government is in favour of issuing uniform pink cards to all ‘Below Poverty Line’ as well as ‘Above Poverty Line’ families.

The pink card would serve as a multipurpose card to avail all the welfare schemes offered by the government such as Aarogyasri, housing, pensions, scholarships, fee reimbursement etc.

The existing method of issuing cards of two colours white cards for BPL families and pink for APL families will be done away with. All the existing white and pink cards with the AP logo stand cancelled.

Uniform pink cards will have BPL or APL written on the top. While BPL families would be eligible for all the government welfare schemes, APL families too would be supplied essential commodities at subsidised rates.

The government is considering supplying fine quality rice for Rs 30 per kg to the APL families through ration shops. In the last three years, the price in the open market has crossed Rs 50 per kg, affecting people from middle income groups. The government has been selling subsidised rice by opening special counters at Rythu Bazaars, but the benefits have not reached everybody due to the limited number of the counters.

The issuance of the new cards is expected to be start on Dasara through Mee Seva centres across the state.

Only the people who enrolled their details in the household survey will be considered for the ration cards.

The household survey data will be integrated with civil supplies department and Mee Seva centres. Once the applicant submits the details at a Mee Seva centre seeking a ration card, they would be verified with household survey data. If these details tally, a new card will be issued to the applicant immediately.