10 kg rice in drought-hit taluks under Anna Bhagya: Minister

The state government will give 10 kg rice under the PDS to all beneficiaries in drought-hit taluks, Food and Civil Supplies Minister K H Muniyappa said on Monday. 

Speaking to mediapersons here, he said the government would provide 10 kg rice to beneficiaries these taluks, even as in other places it was giving cash in lieu of 5 kg rice.

While the Congress government in the state planned to distribute 5 kg rice in addition to the existing 5 kg distributed under PDS, it began crediting cash to beneficiaries as it was unable to source additional rice from any of the central agencies. 

Meanwhile, even as there are concerns about at least 21 lakh people being left out of Anna Bhagya, Muniyappa said the government was in the process of bringing them into the loop.

Of these, about 5.5 lakh are not availing the benefit of Anna Bhagya scheme at all, about 3.38 lakh are availing rice under Antyodaya scheme and the state government recently included 2 lakh under the purview of Anna Bhagya.

As for the rest, they will be brought into the scheme soon by rectifying any issues with documentation, Muniyappa said. 

Server problems were also coming in the way and these would be resolved at the earliest, he said.