Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

State to seek one lakh tonnes of rice

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State government will seek one lakh tonnne of rice additionally from the Centre for the Onam season.

A delegation led by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will meet the Union Minister for Agriculture and Civil Supplies Sharad Pawar in New Delhi on September 5 and 6 to seek the allotment.

Minister for Food and Civil Supplies C. Divakaran said here on Tuesday that the 10,000 tonnes of rice and 20,000 tonnes of wheat, allotted by the Centre for the festival season, had already been lifted from the go downs.

Arrangements had been done for providing free rice to students and regular supplies to the APL card holders. Distribution of free Onam kits for BPL cardholders was under way.

Mr. Divakaran said both the government and petroleum companies would be taking steps to prevent shortage of cooking gas during Onam. The refilling units would function on Sundays to improve availability of gas.

He had held discussions with the chief executives of the Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation on Tuesday for streamlining supply.

The companies had promised to clear 45,500 pending applications for gas connections within 60 days. Stronger action would be taken against misuse of cylinders.

The companies themselves would deploy special squads to detect misuse during the festival season.

Seized cylinders would be handed over to the companies.

He said there were brisk sales at the Maveli Stores and Onam fairs of the State Civil Supplies Corporation. Sales of vegetables would start shortly.

Meat and eggs were already available.

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