Minister for Civil Supplies Kodali Venkateswara Rao (Nani) and Civil Supplies Commissioner Kona Sashidhar on Tuesday met Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan in New Delhi, and requested him to release ₹4,000 crore due from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to Andhra Pradesh.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Mr. Venkateswara Rao said that they had also requested Mr. Paswan to ensure that the grain reserves in the FCI godowns be emptied to enable the State to store the rice purchased from the farmers in them.

“Mr. Paswan has responded positively to it,” the Minister said. Informing the Union Minister that the State had relaxed certain norms for issue of ration cards, Mr. Rao drew his attention to the fact that the Centre had identified only 92 lakh of the 1.3 crore cards. He said more than 9 lakh cards had been voluntarily withdrawn by the beneficiaries, especially after the State issued them Aarogyasri and fee reimbursement cards. He told Mr. Paswan that issue of ration cards was a continuous process and those who apply through village secretariats were being given cards in five days.