Thiruvananthapuram: With the cabinet on Wednesday deciding to introduce the ration wage package, priority category cardholders except Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) cardholders would be left out of the purview of the free ration scheme.
Following the announcement, the ration dealers affiliated to All Kerala Retail Ration Dealers Association, All India Ration Dealers Association and Kerala State Retail Ration Dealers Association withdrew the strike after discussions with food and civil supplies minister P. Thilothaman here.
As per the new scheme, 29 lakh priority ration card holders would have to pay Re 1 per kilo for the monthly quota of five kilogram each of rice and wheat due to them.
However, six lakh AAY cardholders would continue to get the rice and wheat free of cost.
The ration wage package would be implemented in a phased manner before March 31, 2018, concurrent to the introduction of the e-POS machine in ration shops. The machines will first be introduced in Kollam district.
The rice for non-priority cardholders will be distributed as per the present price of '8.90 and wheat at '6.50. Priority category ration dealers were left out of the free ration scheme as the government decided to transfer the additional burden for introducing ration wage package.
The total financial burden to the government following the introduction of wage package is Rs 207 crore. Of this, 44.59 crores will be sanctioned as central share.
The government would get Rs 117.4 crore through restriction of the free ration. The extra burden of Rs 45 crore will be taken over by the government.
