The Odisha government has decided to provide Rs 200 'rice allowance' per month to persons with disability.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik issued a direction to the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Department to provide the rice allowance today.
Disabled persons in the state will receive their rice allowance along with their monthly pension with retrospective effect from October this year, an official release issued by the Chief Minister's Office said.
Persons with more than 60 per cent disability would be eligible for receiving the allowance, it said, adding the decision would benefit about two lakh persons with disability.
The state government till November this year was providing an additional 10 kg of rice per month to the disabled persons at a subsidised price of Re one per kilo. However, this was not possible after implementation of the National Food Security Act in Odisha, an official said.
The official added beneficiaries can also purchase 10 kg of rice from the open market at the price of Rs 20 per kg.
