Double benefits of double-engine govt: Free ration twice a month in UP

Lucknow: More than 15 crore people of Uttar Pradesh will now get the double benefit of the free ration scheme as the Centre extends the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana till March 2022. While ration will be available for free under this scheme, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has already announced the extension of Free of Cost food grains till Holi, apart from PMGKAY, with the addition of cooking oil and salt to the relief package.

This way the beneficiaries will get around 10 kg of free food grains in a month. Not only the ration card holders here will get free wheat and rice twice a month, but pulses, edible oil, and salt will also be provided free of cost. The initiative of the double engine government 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 Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, which was started due to the pandemic, was ending in November. In this scheme, free ration was being given to all the ration cardholders. After the end of this scheme, on November 3, CM Yogi Adityanath had announced in Ayodhya that now this facility will be provided by the state government for the month of December, January, February, and March 2022.

In a massive exercise, the government will start distribution to ration cardholders of Antyodaya and Eligible Households at 80,000 fair price shops from December. The Chief Minister has issued instructions to the officers for making all arrangements regarding the distribution of free ration in the state

Notably, there are around 1,30,07,969 units of beneficiaries under the Antyodaya Ann Yojna and 13,41,77, 983 units under Eligible Household cardholders.

In the last four and half years, the Yogi government has reached out to the poorest of the poor, to the last man at the bottom of the pyramid with facilities unheard of. The free ration distribution aimed at providing food security to the poor and deprived in the state through the Public Distribution System is a major step in this regard.

The distribution of free foodgrains under the fourth phase of the Pradhan Mantra Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) is already being carried out in November.

The State has so far distributed more than 128 Lakh MT of free food grains in State since the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020).