The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) walked out of the Kerala Assembly on February 13 (Tuesday) accusing the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of scuttling the Food and Civil Supplies department’s market intervention programme by depriving Supplyco of direly needed funding.
The treasury benches pushed back by stating that the Opposition United Democratic Front’s (UDF) adjournment motion notice seeking the leave of the House to discuss the issue was intriguingly “devoid of any criticism” against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil said the Centre’s “financial embargo” on Kerala had impaired the State’s market intervention strategy.
“Supplyco shelves were empty of certain basic provisions subsidised by the State. The government is struggling to rectify the situation precipitated by the Centre’s refusal to accord Kerala its share of the national revenue”, Mr. Anil said.
He said the Centre had also whittled down its revenue component for State-funded public health, noon meals for children, women’s empowerment, education, and food subsidy schemes.
Mr. Anil took an oblique swipe at Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader N.K. Premachandran by pointing out that “some UDF allies dined rapturously with Prime Minister Narendra Modi” even as the Centre strangulated the State’s finances to perforate Kerala’s social security net that benefited ordinary families and marginalised sections of society.
Congress legislator Shafi Parambil said the CPI State Council had slammed the CPI(M)‘s “pitched attempt” to deprive Mr. Anil’s department of funds to subsidise essential provisions such as rice, sugar and pulses and underwrite the noon meal scheme and procure paddy from farmers.
CPI leader P.S. Supal raised a point of order, requesting Speaker A.N. Shamseer to remove the insinuation from the record since Mr. Shamseer was not privy to the CPI State Council’s proceedings.
Mr. Shamseer reserved his ruling for later.
Mr. Parambil said the LDF had systematically dismantled the State’s market intervention strategy to help corporates entering the retail sector. “People are forced to buy basic supplies at high rates from supermarkets because Supplyco stores are in name only”, he said.
Huge payment backlog: Satheesan
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said vendors were loath to participate in Supplyco tenders because of the huge payment backlog. It paid for paddy procured from farmers in the form of bank loans. The CIBIL score of farmers had plummeted because banks considered paddy procurement payments as loans.
He said the LDF’s “extortionate cess” on fuel spurred seller inflation, upended family budgets and rendered commuter and freight movement costly.
He stated that the LDF could not absolve itself of financial mismanagement by shifting the entire blame to the Centre.
The Speaker denied the UDF the adjournment motion.
