Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday announced that free Onam grocery kits would be distributed starting from Thursday.
The free Onam kit will consist of 11 grocery items and will be made available to 88 lakh ration card holders in the state, as a gift from the government.
“The work of preparing the kits is underway at 2,000 packing centres with the help of volunteers, who check the quality and weight. This will help us to overcome the difficulties and delays encountered in the delivery of goods in the wake of the recent floods,” Pinarayi added.
The kits will be packed and delivered to ration shops across the state by the State Civil Supplies Department (Supplyco). The kit will consist of products worth around Rs 500.
In the first phase, the Onam kits will be distributed to 5.95 lakhs families. These families are those belonging to the Antyodaya category (yellow Ration cards) and they will be distributed on August 13, 14 and 16.
Kits for priority category or the pink card holders will be distributed on August 19, 20, 21 and 22.
There are about 31 lakhs priority cardholders in the state. Kits will also be distributed to the remaining 51 lakh families (blue and white cards) before Onam. Ration cardholders will be able to procure these kits from the same ration shop from where they purchased their ration in July, the CM added.
Additionally, Onam markets will be set up at all district headquarters from August 21 for a period of 10 days. In addition, non-priority cardholders will be able to buy 10 kg special rice at Rs 15 per kg from ration shops from August 13.