THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to restore state's ration quota. The chief minister requested Mr Modi to personally intervene in the matter to restore ration allocation. "The prime minister gave a positive response to the issues raised by us during the meeting. We hope the Centre will take steps to resolve the issue," he said. Mr Vijayan said the state was receiving 16.02 lakh metric tonne of food grains as ration allocation from the Centre. However, following the implementation of Food Security Act, the allocation was cut to 14.25 lakh metric tonne.
The Centre has pointed out that according to the norms laid down in the Act the state was entitled to only 14.25 lakh metric tonne of food grains. This is the lone reason being cited by the Centre. The Chief Minister said Kerala produced only 15 per cent of food grain of its total consumption and because of this peculiar situation the Centre had provided additional allocation. It was continued even when the Centre implemented targeted rationing system in 1997. However, the Food Security Act passed in 2013 did not consider this peculiar situation. As a result the additional allocation was cut.
Mr Vijayan said had the then state government implemented the Act soon after it was passed by Parliament, the limitations could have been identified early on and the state could have conveyed its concerns to Centre. However, the government kept postponing it, seeking more time. Now the state is facing a crisis situation. The Chief Minister also called on union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan. Besides raising the issue of restoration of additional allocation to state, the issue of providing ration to 35 lakh migrant workers was also taken up. The state has requested the Centre to bring the migrant workers within the purview of Act.
