In one of the biggest food grain distribution endeavours, the Uttar Pradesh government is providing free food grain under PMGKAY to about 14.71 crore beneficiaries till June 15.
On the instructions of CM, the Yogi-led government in Uttar Pradesh will start distributing free ration for three months to the poor and migrant labourers from June 20.
The initiative of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath aims at reducing the woes of the economically marginalized citizens, who are not able to arrange for ration and food due to COVID-19.
The UP government, in a massive exercise, will distribute 5 kg free ration (3 kg of Wheat and 2 kg of Rice grain) to ration cardholders of Antyodaya and Eligible Households for the next three months. starting from June 20, the distribution for this particular month will continue till June 30. The dates for the next two months will be declared by the government in the coming days. The Chief Minister has issued instructions to the officers for making all arrangements regarding the distribution of free ration in the state.
The ration distribution will be done at the 80,000 fair price shops in the state under the supervision of nodal officers amid adherence to Covid safety protocols.
Notably, there are around 1,30,07,969 units of beneficiaries under the Antyodaya Ann Yojna and 13,41,77, 983 units under Eligible Houshold card holders. For this, it is estimated more than 7.5 lakh metric tonnes of food grains will be distributed by the government.
According to the Department of Food and Supply, ration distribution will be done through e-POS machines after the Aadhaar card authentication. Those who will not be able to get the free ration through Aadhar identification will be given through mobile OTP verification.
To maintain social distancing, only five beneficiaries at a time will be allowed at each shop. Online tokens will be arranged by the government for the convenience and safety of the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries will be asked to sanitise their hands first before using the e-PoS machine.
