BHUBANESWAR: As members cutting across party lines expressed concern over reduced allocation of kerosene under the public distribution system, the State Government on Thursday said it will once again request the Centre to increase Odisha’s quota.
The State Government has been opposing reduction of its kerosene quota by the Centre since 2015.
The Petroleum Ministry’s decision to reduce kerosene quota after deducting the new LPG connection beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is not acceptable to Odisha, said Minister of State for Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) Sanjay Dasburma.
Replying to the debate on demand for grants of FS&CW Department, Dasburma said the quarterly kerosene quota of the State was 98,448 kilo litre (KL) in 2015.
The State’s quota has been reduced to 62,112 KL in 2017 which is 36.9 per cent less. Now, each beneficiary will get 640 millilitre per month as against one litre, he said.
Noting that a large number of beneficiaries under National Food Security Act (NFSA) use kerosene both for cooking and lighting purposes, the Minister said the drastic reduction of quota has caused inconvenience for poor families. “We will once again write to the Centre requesting to restore the State’s quarterly quota to the 2015 level,” Dasburma said.
A couple of days back, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan had asked Odisha Government to give a list of families who are eligible for subsidised kerosene under public distribution system.
Refuting the State Government’s allegation of kerosene quota reduction, Pradhan had said the average supply of fuel to each family in Odisha is 28 litre per annum as against the national average of 25 litre per family.
While demanding enhanced supply of kerosene to NFSA beneficiaries, Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra urged the State Government to take up the matter of opening more retail outlets for sale of kerosene in the State with the Centre.
Apart from the expenditure of FS&CW Department, the Assembly passed the demand for grant of 23 departments through guillotine.