Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has issued a set of guidelines for the PDS shops across the state to deal with the heatwave situation in this summer.

The Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) Department has sent a communique in this regard to the Collectors of all 30 districts.

As per the guidelines, the PDS shops have been asked to distribute the food grains to the ration card holders from 7 am to 10 am in the morning and from 5 pm to 8 pm in the evening.

Besides, temporary shades would be arranged at the PDS or fair price shop (FPS) points to protect the beneficiaries from the heat.

Similarly, the PDS shops have been asked to arrange drinking water or ORS for the beneficiaries.

Moreover, the authorities would arrange drinking water at all depots or rice receiving centres (RRCs) during the summer. In addition to this, the timing of the lifting of food grains would be regulated on the basis of the heatwave warning.

The state government has also asked the officials of FS&CW Department to remain vigilant and make the necessary arrangements to avoid any untoward incident during the lifting and distribution of food grains in this summer.