In sweltering heat, cardless wait for ration

New Delhi: Almost a month after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that the needy without ration cards will be given ration supplies for free at Delhi govt school distribution centres, the queues outside such schools keep getting longer and those waiting in line are kept being turned away before noon some times. While the scheme officially began on June 5, two to three weeks after the CMs announcement, and started with massive teething problems, these problems have just multiplied in the last three days.

On Wednesday morning outside a Delhi government school for girls in East of Kailash, there were at least 50-60 people waiting in line outside the closed gates of the school premises around 10:30 am.

The residents clamoured over each other, flouting social distancing norms, to reach the open window where an official was supposed to be issuing tokens to them. However, the supplies ran out before all could get their share.

This was the scene at several school distribution centres across the Capital on the first two days of the scheme's implementation as well. Many centres sought Aadhaar or mobile number verification, many others only gave out tokens to just a few hundred beneficiaries with a few hundred more waiting in line.

Delhi's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Imran Hussain on Tuesday acknowledged the shortage in food grain and said,