Smart ration cards from April 1: TN minister

Tamil Nadu food minister R Kamaraj has said smart family cards will be distributed to the people of the state from April 1 this year.

He said the universal public distribution system, in which rice is supplied to all rice cardholders without any discrimination, inaugurated by former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, will continue and the introduction of the National Food Security Act will also be simultaneously implemented without the one affecting the other.

A review meeting, headed by the Minister, was held at Ezhilagam on Tuesday during which the civil supplies and consumer protection offi cials took part.

Stating that 5.65 crore people have seeded their Aadhar details with their family cards, he said this amounts to 80 per cent of the state's population. The minister asked officials to take steps to collect the details of the remaining persons too.

On the question raised on what happened to Rs 318 crore allocated to the smart card project, the Minister said that on 18 September 2014 quotation was asked and on 2 March 2015, an agreement was made for the project.

He said that out of the 5.77 lakh complaints received at the grievance redressal camps conducted by his department, 5.55 lakh have been addressed. "Such camps are conducted in Tamil Nadu alone," he said.