PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry unit of CPM on Friday objected to the move of the Union government to provide cash in place of commodities supplied through the PDS.
CPM secretary Rajangam, in a statement here on Saturday, said, the Union government had taken an initiative to provide cash in three union territories in place of commodities through PDS on an experimental basis, which is a move to snatch away the commodities from the people. At a time when the price of commodities are on the rise in the open market, the government procuring food grains and other essential commodities and supplying it to the people will be the real relief, he said, adding that providing cash and asking people to purchase commodities from the open market will further push the poor into poverty.
Rajangam said, provision of commodities through PDS checked the open market price and if this was stopped prices would skyrocket. He cited the example of kerosene price in the open marking rising to Rs 60 a litre when kerosene at a rate of Rs 12 was stopped in the PDS.