Zakir Hussain, in his early 30’s, forgoes his daily wage of Rs. 200 – that he earns by pulling a fish cart in Chintadripet – for at least three days so that he can purchase the monthly quota of kerosene from the fair price shop no. CA-300 in MKB Nagar, Vysarpadi. His is not an isolated case as many struggle every month because the shop is overcrowded and is expected to cater to nearly 4000 cards. The State is already facing extreme kerosene shortage at present.
“While I’m entitled to get three litres a month, the helper gives only two-and-a-half litres. I usually get it only in the second or the third week if I’m lucky. Since I don’t have a gas stove we buy the fuel to cook, but also use it to light the lamp during the power cut,” said Mr. Hussain.
As the kerosene he buys runs out in within 15 days, for the rest of the month, he buys kerosene from a nearby store at Rs. 60 a litre.
The fair price shop in MKB Nagar supplies kerosene to areas including Udaya Suryan Nagar, Sathyamurthy Nagar, Damodaran Nagar, Golden Complex, MGR Nagar and Mullai Complex, said an employee at the shop. “No fair price shop should be given more than 1000-1200 cards. In case, a shop is overloaded then the areas have to be split and more shops have to be opened,” said a source at Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies department.
While the shop is entitled a supply of 24,300 litres, it receives only 18,000 litres. Earlier in June, when it got only 16,000 litres, residents of the area staged a protest following which an additional two thousand litres were sanctioned by the civil supplies department, the employee said.
70-year-old P. Kamala said, “After waiting for over ten hours, I’m going home with an empty can. I didn’t get the kerosene in the month of May and June as well. For those two months, I purchased it for nearly Rs. 60, a litre in a provision store,” she said, on a frustrated tone.
More than one-fifth of the people don’t get their share – either because many of them are forced to wait in the long queues or because the kerosene runs out.
A senior official at the civil supplies department said he was not aware of the goings-on in the shop. “I don’t think any shop can have 4000 cards. We’ll look into matter,” he said.
Minister of food and Civil supplies R. Kamaraj also denied the possibility of such occurrences.
