Kerala - Kozhikode

Ration dealers express protest over cancellation of cards

KOZHIKODE: Ration dealers have warned that nearly four lakh families have been affected by the government decision to cancel the ration cards of those who had failed to complete the formalities for getting new cards.

Spokespersons for the All India Ration Dealers’ Association said on Friday that they had instructions not to sell ration commodities to those whose cards had been cancelled. The order came into effect on November 1, they said. The association has decided to mobilise the families affected by the decision and organise protests in front of the Secretariat on November 23.

State vice-president of the association Palakandi Latheef and national general secretary Babychan Mukkadan said in a statement that representatives of ration dealers would also stage a satyagraha in front of the Secretariat that day, demanding one more chance for these families to submit photographs for the new ration cards and complete other formalities.

Distribution of the new ration cards began on December 24 last year. Though the Chief Minister and the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies had promised that the new cards would be distributed in three months, even the printing of the new cards had not been completed. Nearly 70 lakh ration cards have to be distributed in all. So far, only 50 lakh had been distributed, they said.

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