PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry's Jawaharlal Nehru Street witnessed a massive sit-in on Tuesday for over two hours as CPM activists demanded the reopening of PDS shops, and supply of essential commodities at subsidised rates. The CPM leaders also threatened to move the Court, if the free rice scheme was not revived, and fair price shops FPS not reopened.
This comes even as the ruling NDA government in Puducherry are on the same page on the matter. Even though the ruling party's election promise had been to reopen the FPS, these stores remain shut even a year after the AINRC and BJP came to power in Puducherry. The road blockade was allowed to go on and nothing was done to halt it, till the activists withdrew the protest.
The functionaries led by CPM politburo member G Ramakrishnan marched from Balaji Theatre towards Chief Secretariat, but stopped by police at the Nehru Street- Mission St junction. The leaders and cadres sat on the road, blocking the traffic, and held a demonstration. Former Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy also joined the protest.
A delegation led by CPM State secretary R Rajangam submitted a memorandum to the new Chief Secretary Rajiv Verma, who assured to look into the matter. The memorandum also demanded the provision of essential commodities including good quality free rice, and pulses, oils, sugar, millets etc, at subsidised price. Their other demands included: kerosine, immediate distribution of Rs 9,000 for the red family card, Rs 4,500 rupees for yellow family cards in cash(pending for the past 15 months in lieu of rice) or quality rice.
The free rice scheme in Puducherry had been converted into a cash transfer scheme three years ago by the then Lt Governor Kiran Bedi. This was despite objections from several beneficiaries, who pointed out that cash in the bank, which had several problems, did not assure food intake for the household, said Rajangam in the memorandum. The CPM vehemently opposed this shift.
He added, presently, neither rice nor its cash equivalent had been provided for the past 15 months to the people, said the activists. The red family cardholders were not given Rs 600 as a substitute for 20 kg of rice, and the yellow family cardholders were not given Rs 300 in place of 10 kg. In total, the red and yellow card holders respectively suffered losses of Rs 9,000 and Rs 4,500 for the past 15 months.
The memorandum added, due to the sharp rise in the prices of essential commodities, the poor -- already in an impoverished state-- are unable to meet daily food requirements. The pandemic has exacerbated matters further.
Former CPM State Secretary T Murugan and other functionaries participated.