Manjula's household has five members. Living in a small one-room house in Marappa Garden, she uses a kerosene stove to cook for her two pre-teen boys, her father-in-law and husband.
Her monthly kerosene requirement — used most frugally — is around 17 litres. Needless to say, her monthly allocation of seven litres of subsidised kerosene, through the State's Public Distribution System (PDS), barely covers her needs.
Despite holding a BPL (Below Poverty Line) ration card, making her eligible for cooking fuel subsidy, she is forced to purchase “white oil” from the open market — the PDS kerosene is coloured blue to prevent diversion or leakage — sold at a steep Rs. 30 to Rs. 40 per litre. The PDS kerosene from the fair price shop is sold at Rs. 14.70.
Steep hike
In Bangalore alone, there are 7.61 lakh BPL card holders who buy PDS kerosene from 1,278 fair price shops. While public debate of fuel prices has centred on price deregulation and price hikes of petroleum and LPG, this poor man's fuel has climbed from Rs. 9.40 a litre in early 2010, Rs. 12.60 in November 2010, to a pricey Rs. 14.70 a litre when the hike was effected in July.
Despite these hikes, policy-makers have stated on record that owing to huge leakages, the near 60 per cent subsidy may not be sustainable, implying that these prices too will be decontrolled.
Food and Civil Supplies Department estimates the overall allotment in Bangalore at around 5,256 kilolitres. However, access to this meagre allotment is by no means a smooth affair. Six of the nine fair price shops visited by The Hindu , in a random survey on Monday, remained either closed or low on stock.
Though, according to PDS rules, every registered retail dealer must supply rations six days a week, many open for barely two days a week.
Arun Selva, an activist and resident of a slum in Koramangala, says NT Store, where he is registered, is open two days a month. Often, kerosene is sold here during a fixed time slot past midnight.
Another shop in Shivajinagar allegedly refuses to sell after the first week of the month.
“By creating panic around the shop, they manage to slip in a litre less, here and there. We have no option but to take what we get,” says Pedamma, who says she often has to skip work to buy her monthly ration.
The Food and Civil Supplies Department concedes that they “routinely” receive such complaints, and action is taken “on an ongoing basis”.
Lighting needs
Ask Boraiah, a pushcart vendor from R.T. Nagar, about procurement issues and he snaps: “I need kerosene for lighting after it gets dark. But they say if you use gas for cooking you cannot claim subsidy for lighting.” He shells out Rs. 35 per litre in the open market.
The Government views kerosene as purely a cooking fuel, ignoring the fact that a large majority of the poor who have no access to electricity, use it for lighting.
