The Local Government Ministry has decided to deploy a token system to speed up the process of handing over free tuna can cases being issued by the government ahead of Ramadan.
This comes after public outrage over the long queues which made people in Malé, Hulhumalé and Villimalé wait hours for their share of the fish cans. Following this, the government promised to come up with an easier system.
Last night, the ministry announced that they decided on establishing a token system as a solution to the issue.
“Under this system, when a person takes a token for a specific night from a specific centre, they would be able to get their tuna can case from from that centre," a statement by the ministry said.
The ministry said details of the token issuance system would be announced later. However, it has been decided that different centers will issue different amounts of tokens.
Since Maldives is now experiencing the hot monsoon, the government decided to issue these tuna cans at night between 20:00 to 18:00 every night until the end of this month:
Issuing centres
1- MIFCO Main Building - 200 tokens
2- MTCC - 200 tokens
3- Henveiru Stadium - 100 tokens
4- Galolhu Stadium (Setup 1) - 50 tokens
5- Galolhu Stadium (Setup 2) - 50 tokens
6- Galolhu Stadium (Setup 3) - 50 tokens
7- Galolhu Stadium (Setup 4) - 50 tokens
8- Social Centre - 100 tokens
9- Villimalé, WAMCO site - 100 tokens
10- Hulhumalé, Umar Zahir Building - 100 tokens
11- Hulhumalé, POLCO Tower (C Block) - 100 tokens
12- Hulhumalé Hiyaa Tower 10 - 100 tokens
13- Hulhumalé, Kamil Didi Pre School - 100 tokens
The government said those going to collect the tuna can cases will be required to bring one month's electricity bill and their ID cards. A maximum of three cases would be issued per person, which is one case per electricity metre, the Ministry said.
The ministry said it would continue until all households are provided with fish can. They also said that those who face difficulties in using mobile phones to access the online systems would be able to receive their cans without any difficulty as well.
The Local Government Ministry said it was closely monitoring the arrangements for issuing the fish cans.
According to the ministry, a total of 9,393 households received their fish cans on the first night.
- Villimalé - 582
- MTCC - 2,083
- MIFCO - 3,666
- Hiyaa Flat 10 - 1,555
- Umar Zahir Building - 1,508
Each household was issued a case of 48 fish cans, with households determined by electricity metres. More than 80,000 households in the Maldives are expected to receive the fish cans.