Date:03/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/03/stories/2008080353930400.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Achuthanandan writes to Pawar

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has urged Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to restore the APL rice quota of the State. In a letter to Mr. Pawar on Saturday, he said the Centre’s stand that the State should make its own arrangements for foodgrains from August to December was against an earlier understanding. He pointed out that the Centre had cancelled Kerala’s APL quota on the ground that the State did not supply rice to the Central pool. He contended that there was no pact to the effect that the State should supply rice to the Central pool. —Special Correspondent