New ration cards by August 31

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ration cards for all new applicants would be issued by August 31, Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran told the Assembly on Friday.

Responding to a calling attention motion from A.P. Abdullakkutty (Congress), the Minister said that as of June 29, the government was in receipt of 6.85 lakh applications for fresh ration cards. The applications were being processed at taluk supply offices with technical support from the Centre for Development Imaging Technology (C-DIT) so that all the applications would be cleared by August 31, he said.

The Minister said the new applications were mostly from persons who required cards of their own and those who had shifted out of their parental homes. The government had stopped accepting new applications for ration cards owing to the work already on hand. By this month end, the department would once again begin accepting fresh applications, he said.

Mr. Divakaran pointed out that the department had issued fresh photo-affixed cards to 68 lakh households in the State over the last two years.

Responding to another calling attention motion from A.A. Aziz (RSP), Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Vijayakumar said the Director General of Police had issued strict instructions to the Range IGs, SPs and Commissioners of Police to ensure removal of vehicles heaped near traffic police stations across the State without delay