TN to launch door delivery of ration items to elderly, differently abled

Chennai | The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday rolled out the "Chief Minister's Thayumanavar Scheme" to deliver ration items at the doorsteps of over 21 lakh beneficiaries, an initiative CM M K Stalin described as close to his heart since it would benefit senior citizens aged over 70 years and differently abled persons.

Stalin marked the rollout of the scheme by flagging off vehicles meant for this purpose here and also visited the homes of some of the beneficiaries and handed over to them the essential commodities.

The scheme was formulated keeping in mind the difficulties faced by the said group of ration card holders to access fair price shops and the additional expense of Rs 30.16 crore incurred in the rollout was the government's "life-saving responsibility" towards the public, he said.

"So much of thought goes into the formulation of every scheme and the Thayumanavar Scheme is close to my heart. Launched by the Cooperative department, it involves taking ration items to the doorsteps of the elderly and the differently abled. I am happy to inaugurate this," he said in a social media video statement.

To be implemented in 34,809 fair price shops across Tamil Nadu, it would benefit 21,70,454 persons, the majority of them being the elderly.

Tamil Nadu was a 'pioneer' in such doorstep delivery initiatives. The government doesn't just stop with announcing a scheme, but monitors if the last intended persons benefit from it.

"We don't see the Rs 30.16 crore involved in the scheme as additional expense but as a life-saving responsibility towards the people. This is a big service by the Cooperative department," he added.

Tamil Nadu has a total of 37,328 fair price shops, with 2,394 of these being added in the four years of the DMK government, he said.

"Because we run these shops efficiently and properly, Tamil Nadu today is free of starvation deaths. We are further trying to simplify the use of these ration shops," Stalin added.

Meanwhile, an official release said that as part of the initiative, the ration items will be door-delivered to the beneficiaries every second Saturday and Sunday. The relevant details have already been received from the Food and Consumer Protection department and shared with the field staff concerned, it said.

The staff will deliver the items to eligible beneficiaries. They would be provided with an electronic weighing machine and e-PoS (point of sale) machine as part of the initiative, it said.

Around 20.42 lakh senior citizens and over 1.27 lakh differently abled persons would benefit from the scheme, it said.

The ruling DMK has already rolled out similar doorstep delivery of services, including the Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam (MTM) scheme in the health sector where the government provides home-based health care services that include screening for adults for diabetes and breast cancer, among others.