JAMMU, MAY 09: A Team of officers consisting of Director Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Jammu RK Shavan; Relief & Rehabilitation Commissioner(M) J&K Dr Arvind Karwani and Additional Secretary Department of Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction Sudhir Bali, accompanied by other officers from the concerned departments on Saturday visited Mini Township Jagti to take on ground stock of the ration distribution in terms of the Special Relief Ration Scheme for Kashmiri/Jammu Migrants, notified by the J&K Government vide Government Order No. 15-JK(FCS&CA) of 2026 dated 05.03.2026.
The Scheme has become operational from all the designated ration depots in Jammu Province from April 18, 2026 and about 7000 migrant families have received free ration in terms of the Scheme so far.
It was also noted that about 19500 migrant ration cards have been punched into the NFSA database and another 8000 applications are in process.
Relief Ration Card holders, irrespective of categorization, whether PHH, NPHH, or Special Category, are being provided 11 kg of free ration per person per month along with 1 kg of sugar, while migrants under the Non-Relief category, such as pensioners, categorized as NPHH, are being provided 5 kg of ration at Government-approved NFSA rates.
During interaction with beneficiaries at various locations in Jagti, which houses more than 5000 families, the team of officers clarified that those migrant ration card holders who may not have been able to collect the ration during the last month (April) can collect the two-month ration ( April and May) during the current month. “Those who may have received less quantity of ration due to any technical glitch in April or in the current month will also get the balance ration. On-spot directions were also issued for making corrections in ration cards in a time-bound manner,” they were assured.
A special camp was also organized on the spot by the Social Welfare Department to facilitate eligible migrants to fill applications for various social sector schemes. The team of officers also interacted with the beneficiaries of the welfare schemes.
Pertinent to mention that about 600 families are already availing the benefits of Old Age Pension, Widow Pension, Disability Pension and Marriage Assistance after integration of migrant ration cards into the NFSA database, which is in addition to the monthly relief benefits.
People were advised to beware of some mischievous elements spreading false propaganda on social media about the discontinuation of migrant status after integration into the NFSA database. The cash assistance to all relief card holders has already been released up to date. It was reiterated that the integration of migrant ration cards into the NFSA database is being done in compliance with relevant Government Orders and rules, aimed to enable the migrants to avail benefits of various schemes, without affecting their migrant status and relief benefits.
Migrants were unable to avail these benefits for the last 35 years due to their ration cards being non-digitized and not integrated with the national database. The Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs and National Informatics Centre are working in close coordination with the Relief Organization to fully operationalize the new scheme for all migrants within the shortest time period.
