Ration distribution for July to commence next Friday

Chennai

"The essential food commodities will be distributed through token system. Tokens will be distributed at doorsteps between July 7 and July 9. The tokens will have details of date and time of distribution of the commodities so that people need not stand in queue in front of the ration shops," the Chief Minister said in a statement.

After lockdown was imposed, the State government had been providing essential food items through ration shops free of cost, apart from providing Rs 1,000 to all the rice ration cardholders in April. The government had allotted Rs 3,280 crore towards distribution of Rs 1,000 and foodgrains.

The package containing one kg dal, one kg oil along with allotted quantity of rice and sugar was being given to beneficiaries since April. As the lockdown was extended till July 31, the government announced free distribution of essential food items through ration shops for the month of July.

After concerns were raised that people were crowding at the shops to collect tokens, the Chief Minister instructed fair price shop workers to distribute the tokens at the doorsteps to avoid this. Palaniswami added that there was no need to crowd at the shops, assuring that the people would be informed about the date and time to get the commodities through ration shops.

For those living in containment zones, essential commodities would be delivered at their doorsteps. "People should wear masks and should follow social distancing while collecting free ration products," the Chief Minister in the statement.

Time extended for GST payment:
The government issued a Government Order (GO) to extend the payment of Goods and Services Tax (GST) by two more months. Due to COVID-19 pandemic spread, there were demands to extend the deadline for filing GST. Initially, the time for filing was extended from March to June 30.

As the situation is yet to return to normalcy, the due date for filing GST has now been extended till August 31.