Mangaluru: Minister for Food and Civil Supplies U T Khader has directed officials to complete linking of Aadhaar numbers with ration cards by the end of Dec.

He was speaking to all deputy commissioners at a video conference on Saturday. Officials of the Food and Civil Supplies and Revenue department should speed up seeding Aadhaar card numbers with ration card. Some card holders have changed their houses and have trouble linking the Aadhaar with the present address. Such people should change the address in the Aadhaar cards, he said.

Khader said nodal officers have been appointed to each district to implement 'Ujwala scheme' aimed at providing free LPG connections to the BPL cardholders. Under the scheme, the applicants will get free gas connections from oil companies and the state government will provide free gas stove to the beneficiaries.

He directed the deputy commissioners to implement the scheme effectively in their respective districts.

The department is getting ready to distribute new ration cards. Revenue inspectors in urban areas and PDOs in rural areas have been asked to verify the applications for ration cards. The applicants will receive the ration cards through speed post, he said.

Food and Civil Supplies Commissioner Harsh Gupta said DCs have been empowered to start new ration shops.