Assam Government to add another 5 Lakh Ration Card Holders

GUWAHATI:

The state government plans to simplify ration cards and add an additional five lakh cardholders.

The government has urged undeserving persons to voluntarily give up their cards, with the intention of allocating them to deserving people. People with a yearly income of less than one lakh rupees would be eligible for ration cards.

There are currently around 58 lakh ration card holders in the state. 

Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Minister of Food and Civil Supplies, Assam said, "We have seen several people whose annual income is over one lakh are holding ration cards and denying the genuine poor people. We are issuing an appeal to such people to voluntarily give up. The circle officers are asked to check such cases and we will add another five lakh new hard holders shortly."

"In this time of COVID-19 pandemic such people whose annual income is less than one lakh really requires assistance from the public distribution system," he added. 

Items can be obtained by ration card holders through a public distribution system. 

Dass, who is also the minister for Panchayat and Rural Development (P&RD), claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic in the state is mostly a city phenomenon, with concrete areas reporting a high number of COVID-19 positive cases. However, a steady influx is now being observed in rural regions as well. 

According to him, Assam has a total of 2,197 Gaon Panchayats (GP) and 479 Village Council Development Committees (VCDC)/Village Development Committees (VDCs) beneath the Sixth Scheduled districts. To stop the spread of COVID-19 in rural regions, the Gaon Panchayats and VCDCs/VDCs, which are cutting-edge institutions, have been prepared to combat COVID-19. A War Room has been established in each GP, serving as the nodal point for the fight against COVID-19 inside the GPs/VCDCs/VDCs. The Task Force was formed inside the GP/VCDC/VDC. The GPs/VDCD/VDCs have carried out sanitation activities in rural regions. 

He added, "Regular report on the initiatives undertaken to fight with COVID-19 in the rural areas reflects that presently there are 304 number of GPs/VCDCs/VDCs which are COVID-19 free. Out of these 173 are Gaon Panchayats and 131 are VCDCs/VDCs. I am very much hopeful that with active participation and cooperation of everyone we will be able to declare entire rural areas of Assam as COVID free in near future". 

Meanwhile, Assam on Tuesday reported 2,869 cases of COVID-19 infections, taking the total caseload in the state to 4,88,179. With 37 COVID-induced fatalities reported in the last 24 hours, the total death toll in the state now stands at 4,280. 

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