In a major policy change, the Andhra Pradesh coalition government, led by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, has formally announced cancelling the ration door delivery system introduced in the earlier YSRCP government. It was decided at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and will be rolled out from June 1, 2025.
The government has made it clear that though doorstep delivery of ration would stop for the majority of its citizens, elderly citizens and differently abled persons would continue to get their ration at home. For the remaining beneficiaries, ration items have to be picked up straight from Fair Price Shops from June 1. This step was taken to reduce disturbance to the weaker sections while introducing efficiency.
The home delivery system for ration was a flagship welfare program launched by then Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to make ration more accessible. Thousands of MDUs were bought and huge government money was spent to organize doorstep delivery to ration cardholders.
Though the motive behind the move was universally welcomed, with the passage of time the system encountered several problems—skyrocketing operational expenses, logistical difficulties, and mounting burden on carriers of deliveries. There were additionally issues associated with delayed services, mismanagement, and a lack of transparency in some regions.
Following the landslide victory of the TDP-Janasena-BJP alliance in the 2024 elections, the new administration is revisiting and reassessing several major policies from the past regime. Scrapping the ration home delivery model is part of this larger review, with a focus on curbing unnecessary public expenditure and improving overall system accountability.
One of the largest questions surrounding this move is what happens to the thousands of delivery vehicles bought under the scheme. Now that door delivery is being phased out, there is debate about how the vehicles can be reassigned for other public uses, such as healthcare transport, emergency services, or rural outreach programs.
