Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition walked out of the Legislative Assembly on August 8, accusing the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government of failing to control food inflation.
Congress legislator P.C. Vishnudas, who moved an adjournment motion on the cost of living crisis, said the soaring prices for groceries and other basic essentials offered a snapshot of the intense pressure poorer families faced daily to put food on the table.
He alleged that the Finance Department’s refusal to underwrite the `3,600 crores Supplyco owed vendors had stalled institutionalised mechanisms to cap food prices via strategic market intervention.
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Mr. Vishnunath said suppliers shunned Supplyco tenders for bulk purchases. Supplyco stores across the State were empty of essential commodities.
The Horticrop faced a similar debt crisis and has failed to insulate the vegetable and fruit retail market from seller-induced inflation.
“Ideally, Food Minister G.R.Anil should have moved the adjournment motion to spotlight the Finance department’s apathy to kitchen table issues and not the Opposition”, Mr. Vishnunath said.
Mr. Anil refuted the argument by pointing out that government consumer stores in New Delhi charged 65 for half a kg of dal. In Kerala, it was sold for `118 a kg. The same was the case with other essentials.
Mr. Anil added that tomatoes were sold for `117 per kg in Kerala, despite rain-caused crop loss, while in neighbouring Karnataka, a Congress-ruled State, it retails for `290 a kg, Mr. Anil said.
He said almost 40 lakh households depend on Supplyco stores. Sometimes, items run out. The BJP-led Central Government did not help. It has whittled away at State’s grain and edible oil quota and slashed food subsidies.
Mr. Anil said the Centre had inherited Congress’s neo-liberal economic policy. It considers subsidies and State’s intervention in the retail market to cap food prices an economic heresy.
“The BJP and Congress only limit food and fuel prices when it becomes an election-eve political necessity for the parties. Congress’s attack on Supplyco seemed calibrated to advantage malls and supermarkets,” Mr. Anil said.
Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the cold war between the Finance and Food portfolios, held by CPI(M) and CPI, respectively, has undermined the State’s price control system.
He said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan maintained a Sphinx-like inscrutable silence even as people suffered.
The government slapped a fuel cess on the public, burdened by debt and income loss. It hiked water and power tariff and building taxes, even as lakhs of households were struggling to dodge revenue recovery notices from banks for defaulting on contingency loans.
Mr. Satheesan said the administration faced an unprecedented financial crunch due to its flawed tax administration.
“While dearness allowance was denied for six months for the government employees, civic works in the State was halted due to the government’s inability to compensate public work contractors,” added Mr. Satheesan.
“The people are growing despondent as Onam approaches and the government offers no relief”, he said.
Speaker A.N. Shamsheer denied the Opposition’s motion.
