KOCHI: Civil Supplies Corporation has taken necessary measures to provide various types of rice and sugar at a reasonable price, Supplyco chairman and managing director A.P.M. Mohammed Haneesh has said. Special rice shops will be opened in areas wherever necessary. “Scanty monsoon has severely hit paddy cultivation in Andhra and Telangana which resulted in scarcity. Primary reason for exorbitant prices of popular varieties like Jaya is drought and loss of crop. Kuruva, the favourite in northern parts of the state, is selling at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kg,” he said.
The Supplyco is selling raw rice at Rs 23 a kg. Though it has procured Jaya rice from Gujarat, Karnataka and Jharkhand, consumers in the state find no favour with the variety. This is another reason for the price escalation of Jaya rice from Andhra. The CMD added that tenders have been floated four times since January for procurement of Jaya and Matta rice and released newspaper ads in all the paddy cultivating states in the country.
So far, 5.6 lakh quintal Jaya rice and 5.4 lakh quintal Matta rice have been purchased. The Kuttanadan Matta rice from Oil Palm India Limited has been made available at Rs 33 per kg. Meanwhile, the Supplyco chief attributed the price increase of sugar to the sugarcane crop loss in producer states. However, sugar, procured at Rs 40 per kg, is selling at a subsidy rate of Rs 22 through its outlets. The corporation is incurring a huge loss through the sale of 40,000 quintals of sugar every month, he said, adding prices of pulses and other essential goods are lesser in both the open market and Supplyco outlets compared to last year.
