Thank you, beneficiaries to KCR

The reaction was the same from people across the State, as families holding white ration cards came to know that the one-time payment of Rs 1,500 promised by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to buy other essential commodities besides the free rice had been deposited in their bank accounts.

Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation deposited Rs 1,500 into the bank accounts of each of the 74.13 lakh families holding white ration cards amounting to a total Rs 1,112 crore on Tuesday.

“The decision to provide Rs 1,500 as relief to the poor affected by the lockdown is of great help for us. I am an autorickshaw driver and have had no work since the lockdown was imposed,“ says Khaleel Pasha from Mamillagudem in Khammam.

P Ramaraju, a mason from Wyra in the same district, chips in: “The move shows the humanitarian side of the State government. The amount helped me to meet the expenditure on other essential commodities.”

Rachakonda Badraiah, an agriculture labourer and resident of Gudiwada of Kethepally mandal in Nalgonda district, appreciated the financial assistance extended by the government to poor families. “I have already picked up the free rice and now I can buy other groceries like cooking oil,” he said, adding that his family can now easily tide over the crisis since cost of living is relatively lower in villages.