Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran said on Friday that the Public Distribution system in Kerala could be efficient only if the Centre helped.
Talking to the media here, Minister noted that the State was a food-deficit State. So, the Centre should extend a helping hand in maintaining the system.
The Minister said that he had to face much difficulty in prosecuting the accused in the irregularities reported in the purchase of State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) during the UDF rule. He had to even seek the intervention of his party headquarters to press for a CBI enquiry into the irregularities. Now, the investigation had been completed and the case was before the court.
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Mr. Divakaran said that he had introduced social auditing to check irregularities in the distribution of ration articles. E-tendering was introduced in the Supplyco which was now running on profit. It was selling 13 essential articles at the same price for the past five years. The price rise could be checked.
The Animal Husbandry Department had grown to be an important department during the past five years. It could increase milk production in the State by five lakh litres and set up 600 poultry clubs of school children, he added.