THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition UDF staged a walkout in the Assembly alleging total breakdown of the public distribution system and the government’s apathy in rectifying it.
The walkout resulted after permission to move the adjournment motion by former Civil Supplies Minister Anoop Jacob was denied by the Speaker, on the basis of the Food and Civil Supplies Minister P Thilothaman’s stand that all is well with the PDS in the state.
Leading the walkout, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala said the present government has even hiked the cost of ration cards and also took strong exception to the stand of Food and Civil Supplies Minister P Thilothaman who blamed the previous UDF Government for the prevailing crisis.
“After coming to power by assuring that everything will be all right, rulers are burdening the people. New ration cards remain alien to the people. Thousands of ineligible persons have been included in the priority list. The cost of the cards has gone up,” he said.
Speaking on his notice for the motion, Anoop blamed the government for bringing the distribution of ration essentials to a near standstill. “The minister is not able to fulfil promises given to ration dealers. Moves are afoot to slash the number of ration shops,” he criticised.
He alleged hoarders and criminals have crept into the list of vehicle contractors entrusted with the task of door delivery supplies while implementing Food Security Act.
“Blacklisted suppliers have now found place in Supplyco tenders,” he said. Minister P Thilothaman claimed that the government had done all possible measures to implement FSA and a parliamentary committee in its recent visit was convinced that the ration quota for the state should be reinstated.
Ruckus over SPC incumbent
For the second straight day, the Assembly question hour session on Wednesday witnessed uproarious scenes on the issue of the State Police Chief(SPC). As the question hour began, the Opposition members raised banners and placards demanding the government come out with the name of the present incumbent. The Opposition members created pandemonium as soon as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan rose to reply to the first question of the day.
Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan said the Opposition was setting a bad precedent by repeatedly disrupting the House proceedings during question hour. Reminding the Opposition members to raise such issues during the zero hour instead of the question hour,he urged them to calm down, in order, to allow the smooth functioning of the question hour.
Chief minister’s diary
CM moots desalination to tackle potable water scarcity
Against the backdrop of the acute water scarcity encountered in the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday told the Assembly the state would have to explore several avenues for procurement of potable water such as desalination.
All the existing water bodies-- ponds, rivers, lakes and streams -- would be cleaned up.
Rain pits would be popularised across the state.
Scientific approach to remove the weeds with the help of the Agriculture Department and scientists
Cabinet
SPV to import cashew from abroad
The government is all set to form an Special Purporse Vehicle (SPV) for importing cashew from abroad. Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting gave in-principle approval for the SPV. It will supply cashew to public and private sector cashew factories in the state. The SPV will be formed by amassing shares from the government, banks, Cashew Promotion Council and the State Trading Corporation