Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said the State remained a model in the country for the market intervention initiatives that have played a significant role in controlling price rise of essential commodities.
He was speaking while inaugurating the State-level distribution of over 1 lakh priority (Antyodaya Anna Yojana and Priority Household) ration cards here on Tuesday.
Expressing concern on the growing inflation in the country, Mr. Vijayan said the wholesale price index of the country was at a three-decade high at 15.8%. Consumer food price index has surged to a 17-month high, while inflation in cereals and products also jumped to a 21-month-high level.
“Under such circumstances, Kerala has creditably been able to bring inflation down to 5.1%. This can be attributed to various policy decisions including the one to ensure the prices of 13 essential commodities supplied by Supplyco remaining unchanged since May 2016,” he said.
He added the government spent ₹9,702 crore during the last two years to control price rice. An allocation of ₹5,210 crore had been made for Supplyco to ensure the availability of essential commodities at comparatively low prices. The agency had purchased rice from the Food Corporation of India at a cost of ₹1,444 crore. An amount of ₹1,604 crore was also utilised for paddy procurement.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil, who chaired the function, said the government had distributed 2,53,999 priority ration cards thus far. While 1,53,242 cards had been distributed earlier, 1,00,757 cards are currently being given away. Out of these, 680 cards are being provided to the families of people with critical ailments. He added as many as 1,82,312 people had surrendered priority cards that they were ineligible for.
General Education Minister V. Sivankutty, Transport Minister Antony Raju, Kadakampally Surendran, MLA, Thiruvananthapuram Deputy Mayor P.K. Raju, councillor Palayam Rajan, Food and Civil Supplies principal secretary Tinku Biswal, and Commissioner of Civil Supplies D. Sajith Babu, also participated.
