K. Gopalaiah, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, said on Saturday that the State government would respond positively to the demand of fishermen to increase the quota of kerosene being provided to them for their traditional boats.
Addressing presspersons here after holding a review meeting with his department officials, Mr. Gopalaiah said that at present, the government was providing 210 to 230 litres of kerosene to fishermen for use in traditional boats. There are about 4,300 traditional boat fishermen in Udupi district. But the legislators from the coastal districts had demanded that the kerosene quota be increased to 400 litres.
A meeting of legislators with Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa will soon be held to discuss the issue, the Minister said.
Mr. Gopalaiah also said that there were 292 fair price shops in Udupi district. Of these, 291 were point of sale shops. In these shops, all ration card holders are being provided ration through biometric system. But there are 1,327 card holders who cannot avail ration through biometric system because they are old/disabled/bedridden. They have been given concession from the biometric system, he said.
All the ration cards in the district have been linked to Aadhaar cards. So far, the Department of Food and Civil Supplies has collected the details of 3,52,154 persons through e-KYC system. This amounts to a progress of 44.08%.
