Minister for Food Civil Supplies P. Thilothaman will hold talks with leaders of the Ration Dealers Coordination Committee in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday over a series of issues for which ration retailers have been agitating for over four months.
The committee announced a one-day token strike on February 20 and an indefinite shutdown from the first week of April to press for their demands. Ever since the State government planned the implementation of the food security Act, retailers had been upset as the new system of rationing tended to drastically cut their returns.
The key demands of ration retailers included a reasonable monthly honorarium that could take care of decent returns for the retailer, wages of one salesman and rent of the ration outlet. They also wanted the government to honour its promise of footing the bills for the computerisation of the outlet by April 1 and fully pay for the door-delivery of foodgrains.
The committee is also protesting against the move to wind up the supply of subsidised sugar through the outlets following the Union Bdget proposal to cut down on sugar subsidies.
Kadampuzha Moosa, chairman of the coordination committee, said the government had not yet paid the bill for the ration distribution for the past four months. He said that if Friday’s talks failed, the retailers would go on an indefinite shutdown from the first week of April.
