Kerala govt wishes 'Happier Onam' with ₹ 81 cr sops

As harvest festival Onam is just a month away, CPIM-led LDF government yesterday decided to allocate ₹ 81.42 crores to the state-run Supplyco for market intervention to bring down prices of essential commodities, besides preventing hoarding.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here that ₹ 150 crores had already been earmarked for market intervention in the state budget for the year 2016-17 and ₹ 81.42 crores would be released from it.

Onam fairs and special Onam markets at the district and panchayat levels would also be organised to ensure that people get essential commodities at an affordable and subsidised rate during the festival season, he said.

"Government has decided to strengthen market intervention programmes to control the price of essential commodities during the Onam season for which ₹ 81.42 crores will be allocated to the Supplyco. Of this, ₹ 4.60 crore is for conducting Onam fairs," he told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting here.

A total of ₹ 45 crores would be allotted for market intervention, ₹ 8.76 crores for distribution of food article kits to Below Poverty Line families and ₹ 13.60 crores for the distribution of special sugar from this ₹ 81.42 crore, he said.

All tribal families would be given special 'onam kits' with food articles and school students five kg rice as Onam gift, Vijayan said.

Chief Secretary would hold discussions with oil companies to ensure the availability of cooking gas during the festival season; he said adding that special squads would be operating at the taluk and district levels to curb black marketing and hoardings of essential commodities.

Vijayan said the government had also decided to release ₹ 3000 crore arrears of social welfare pension this month itself.

This would reach the beneficiaries at their doorstep through the cooperative banks, he added.