Kerala Minister for Food and Civil Supplies C. Divakaran on Tuesday refuted the contention of Union Minister of State for Agriculture K.V. Thomas that the State had failed to lift the rice allocated by the Centre to it in full.
In an official release here, Mr. Divakaran said that the government had fully lifted the rice allocated to it under the BPL quota at Rs.6.20 a kg. The rice allocated at Rs.8.90 a kg under the Anna Yojana, Antyodaya and Annapoorna schemes was also lifted in full. These were distributed to the beneficiaries at Rs.2 a kg.
However, Kerala had not lifted the 50,000 metric tonnes of rice, allocated to it at a cost of Rs.15.37 a kg, in full. Rice at that price had not been sought by the State. It had written twice to the Union Ministers seeking reduction in the price. However, the Centre was not willing to do so.
Mr. Divakaran recalled that the State had been steadily supplying 13 essential commodities at prices 20 to 50 per cent lower than the market prices. It had also distributed all the ration rice allocated to it at fair prices in full. It had formed people's committees at the panchayat level to oversee public distribution. It was unfortunate that the Central Minister often made statements that tended to weaken the system, without considering those facts.
