Partial supply to resume on Saturday; ration shops to stay closed until Friday.

Due to technical issues in the Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) system, the government has decided to close over 14,000 ration shops in the State until Friday, April 28th. The closure came into effect on Thursday, following an order by the state Civil Supplies Commissioner. The supply of ration has been affected since Monday, and the closure of the shops marks the first time that they have remained closed for such a long period. ‘There has been no supply of ration for five days,’ said an official.

However, the ration shops will partially resume operations from Saturday in 7 districts. The Civil Supplies Department has ordered to restrict the supply of ration in mornings and evenings for three days starting from Saturday. ‘We hope that the situation will improve soon, and everyone will be able to get their ration,’ said a government spokesperson.

In the past three days, ration shops in Kerala have functioned only for two hours a day, and the total number of persons who bought ration is below 3 lakh. A total of 43.34 lakh persons (46.34%) of the 93.53 lakh card holders are yet to buy ration in April. The ration for April could be bought till May 5th, and the usual procedure expects the ration shops to start the supply of monthly ration on the 6th of every month.