Raipur, April 16: The Chhattisgarh government has issued over 29,000 ration cards since the imposition of the lockdown in the state, according to an official statement. The countrywide lockdown has been imposed to contain the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus.

"A total of 29,683 new ration cards have been created by the food department in the state since the start of the lockdown and the names of about 44,394 new members have been added to the reprepared ration cards," read the statement. Bihar: All Ration Card Holding Families to Get Rs 1,000 Each, Says CM Nitish Kumar.

So far, 8.82 lakh people have been provided food and about 8.75 lakh people have been provided free ration through the district administrations during the lockdown.The Chief Minister has asked all the collectors of various districts of the state to provide food grains to all the people on time, it further read.

The officials of the Food Department informed that the state government is distributing lump sum rice for the months of April and May to the ration card holders of Antyodaya, priority, single destitute, disabled and Annapurna category.Apart from this, rice is also being distributed to the general category ration cardholders at a discounted rate of Rs 10 per kg.