The Delhi government will give 2,000 food coupons each to every MLA and MP in the city for distribution of ration among the needy, who do not have any ID card, in their constituencies in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday.
30 lakh more people
He said that the Delhi government will give free ration to 30 lakh additional people who do not have ration cards but have applied online for it.
The Delhi government had already provided free ration to 71 lakh ration cardholders, 5 kg free ration to 10 lakh non-ration cardholders and had received nearly 38 lakh applications from the non-ration cardholders, Mr. Kejriwal said.
“The Delhi government has decided to give free ration to around 30 lakh people who do not have ration cards. This way we will give free ration to around 1 crore people. Delhi has a population of 2 crore and we will give free ration to half of Delhi’s total population. These 30 lakh people are the people who have applied online based on their ID cards like Aadhaar but there are people in Delhi who do not have any ID card,” he said.
“Many people come to Delhi for a few months to earn money but now are stuck in the city due to the lockdown. To ensure free ration to such people, the Delhi government today decided that we will give 2,000 food coupons to each MLA and MP of Delhi across all the political parties. Each of these coupons will be applicable to get 5 kg of free ration. The MPs and MLAs can give these coupons to people who do not have a ration card or any ID proof,” he said.
From next month, the Delhi government will also give a kit containing essential items
New ambulances
“We have analysed the deaths due to COVID-19, and found that in 80% of the cases the patients were above 50 years and only 20% were below 50 years. This shows that senior citizens are more at risk. We have also found that 83% of patients who have died had serious medical conditions,” he said.
The Delhi government today has ordered for 60 new ambulances, Mr. Kejriwal said.
