Nearly four-fifths of allocated quantity of free rice, earmarked under the State government’s scheme of doubling the quantity of rice for each member of non-priority household (NPHH) cards, did not find takers in Chennai last month.
In North Chennai district, only 16,08,951 kg of free rice was distributed, accounting for 19.37% of the allotment. In South Chennai, the situation was marginally better with 19.9% coverage.
Out of 72,06,648 kg allotted, ration cardholders took 14,34,161 kg of rice. [As far as the Civil Supplies department is concerned, there are 38 districts. Chennai has been divided into North and South].
However, other parts of the State did not record such a poor rate of distribution.
In 15 districts the distribution rate exceeded the 90% mark.
Tiruvarur, an exception
Among them were Dharmapuri, Perambalur, Sivagangai and Tiruvannamalai. One district — Tiruvarur — registered even 100%.
The overall State average was 76.59%.
Other than the two districts in Chennai, only five districts including Coimbatore and Tiruvallur performed below the State average figure.
Formulated as a measure to mitigate the hardship of beneficiaries covered under 86 lakh NPHH cards due to lockdown, the scheme envisages the provision of additional allocation of rice free of cost to every cardholder at 5 kg per person per month, as being done for ordinary allocation of rice through the public distribution system (PDS).
This follows the Union government’s scheme for increasing by 100% the entitlement of rice or wheat for cardholders belonging to the categories of Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Household (PHH) cards.
Though the State government’s measure was meant to cover the people for three months from April, it came into operation only in May in view of time taken for approvals at various levels.
Consequently, the beneficiaries have been allowed to draw their additional entitlement in May and June.
Among the reasons cited for the poor showing in Chennai’s two districts were the “lack of awareness” and “disinclination” among the NPHH beneficiaries to take the additional rice. Officials hope that the situation will improve in June.
Cash disbursement
However, in April when cash of ₹ 1,000 was distributed to every rice-drawing cardholder, the drawal of rice by PDS beneficiaries in general in the two districts of Chennai was on the higher side.
Around 85% of the allotted rice was taken by the beneficiaries in April, for which the break-up data for different categories — AAY, PHH and NPHH — were not available.
An official, attached a fair price shop in South Chennai, said that there was a feeling among ration cardholders, irrespective of category, that having taken the cash two months ago, they should take some quantity of free rice too, if not fully.