CHENNAI: The Union government is constantly reducing the quantity of kerosene supplied to the State, said R Kamaraj, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, during the debate on grants to his department in the Assembly on Monday.
Replying to DMK member G Anbazhagan’s charge that the state government is reducing the supply of kerosene to ration card-holders, Kamaraj said, “Earlier, the Union government used to supply 54,000 litres of kerosene to the state a month. Now the quantity has been drastically reduced and the State is getting only 16,148 litres of kerosene. Hence, the fuel is supplied to card-holders according to the allotment.”
According to the policy note of the Food and Consumer Protection department, “The Union government has gradually reduced the State’s kerosene allotment. At present the State is being supplied only 38 per cent of its total kerosene requirement from October, 2017 onwards. The State’s requirement of kerosene for a month is 42,668 litres. Hence, the government has been continuously requesting the Centre to restore the earlier kerosene allotment to satisfy the requirements of eligible family card-holders.”
The minister said, “The state government has also registered its protest through various modes against the unprecedented increase in ex-storage price of kerosene by Rs 8.62 per litre by the Union government from July, 2016 and requested a rollback.”