The Hindu : Railways to help bring essential goods

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 23, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Railways to help bring essential goods

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM April 22. In a bid to tackle the acute shortage of vegetables and essential goods in the markets in the State capital city and district due to the ongoing lorry strike, the district administration has decided to seek the help of the Railways in bringing vegetables from the neighbouring States.

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting convened with the officials of the Railways, the Horticorp, the office-bearers of the associations of merchants and vegetable dealers and the Chamber of Commerce convened here today.

One general bogie in the trains coming to the city from Nagercoil and Madurai would be used for bringing vegetables, according to a statement quoting the District Collector, E. Ayyappan.

Adequate quantities of food grain and other provisions have been stored in the Civil Supplies Corporation godowns to tackle the shortage, the statement said. The stocks in the Civil Supplies godowns would be regularly monitored. The officials would also be instructed to maintain necessary stocks.

Vehicles belonging to the Police Department would also be used for bringing commodities for the Civil Supplies department stores after discussions with the Director General of Police, the Collector said.

Negotiations would also be held with the District Collectors of Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari for procuring and bringing vegetables to the Horticorp stalls in the city. Adequate protection would be provided in the border areas for the lorries and vehicles which bring fruit from Mysore.

The District Collectors of Wayanad, Kasargod, Kozhikode, Kannur, Thrissur and Ernakulam would be requested to take steps for providing protection for the vehicles. Similarly, the vehicles of various public sector organisations, Corporations and other Government departments would also be used for this purpose. The City Corporation has also chipped in with efforts to procure vegetables from Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, there have been complaints that essential vegetables such as tomato, onion, cabbage and brinjal are not being made available in adequate quantities through the retail centres run by Horticorp and Supplyco.

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