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Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs U.T. Khader said demonetisation had not only resulted in shortage of money for families, but also posed the problem of finding small currency for Public Distribution System outlets.
The monthly quota of ration would cost Rs. 42 a family, excluding the free rice.
The decision to supply ration on credit would help resolve the problem of finding small change as well, he hoped. The government would extend its initiative to December too if the situation did not improve, the Minister said. Pointing out that the State had about one crore BPL card-holding families who get their PDS ration from nearly 20,000 outlets, Mr. Khader said providing ration on credit would cost an additional burden of Rs. 40 crore a month.
Meanwhile, he observed that there was a possibility of BPL cardholders losing their benefits if their bank accounts showed an income of more than Rs. 2.5 lakh during the ongoing demonetisation exercise.