PDS coverage to be widened

PATHANAMTHITTA: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that the public distribution system will be strengthened by widening its coverage to 77 lakh cardholders as per the 2011 Census against 45 lakh cardholders at present.Talking to mediapersons at Tiruvalla Club7 auditorium after a review meeting on strengthening the PDS in the state on Saturday, Chandy said that widening of the PDS coverage to the additional families based on the latest Census was agreed by Union Minister of State for Food K V Thomas, who was at the review meeting.The Chief Minister said the details of the additional number of cardholders would be submitted to the Centre in a week's time.Sugar for OnamThe Central Government would sanction 7,466 tonnes of sugar for the Onam festival in advance, Oommen Chandy said. The Chief Minister said that for augmenting the storage capacity of foodgrains, the Central Warehousing Corporation would set up stateoftheart godowns at Kunnanthanam near Tiruvalla, Chingavanam in Kottayam district, Arakulam in Idukki and Meenangadi in Malappuram, with a capacity of 5,000 tonnes each.In addition, 14 small godowns would be set in each of the 14 districts with private participation with NABARD assistance.Chandy said that the government would disburse Rs 100 crore arrears to be paid to Kuttanad farmers. Union Minister of State for Food K V Thomas, Food and Civil Supplies Minister T M Jacob and Agriculture Minister K P Mohan and toplevel officials of Central and State Government departments were present at the meeting.