Thiruvananthapuram:
The Kerala government on Thursday decided to start more fair price shops for selling vegetables and essential commodities and make available more rice to both below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL) card holders to check the spurt in the prices of food items.
Besides the 347 vegetable outlets opened recently by various government agencies, another 100 retail shops would be opened by state-owned Consumerfed, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram after a high-level meeting that took stock of the price situation.
Consumerfed would also open one thousand 'Nanma' fair price shops for essential commodities.
Welcoming the Centre's decision to allot more quantity of rice to BPL and APL ration card holders, he said this would help the state check price rise of rice in recent days.
The supply of rice at Rs.16 per kg through the outlets of Civil Supplies Corporation would continue. Consumerfed would supply the much sought after 'Jaya brand rice' and Kuruva at Rs.22 per kg and Rs.19 per kg respectively , Mr Chandy said.
The Centre has allotted 1.69 lakh tonnes of additional rice for BPL card holders of the state and has also assured the state that the quantity of rice under Retail OMSS scheme would be increased as per its request, he said.
Steps would also be taken to check hoarding and stringent action would be taken against people who indulge in malpractices and create artificial scarcity to push up rice prices, Mr Chandy added.