The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition on Monday said Kerala was in the grip of a cost of living crisis. The UDF would launch an agitation highlighting the kitchen table issues ‘ignored’ by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the government’s market intervention strategies had fallen flat. It had no funds to prop up the debt-burdened Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco). Food inflation was the fallout.
Supplyco was scraping the barrel to pay vendors. It is at a loss to call tenders for procurement ahead of the Onam festival season. It owes suppliers at least ₹3,400 crores by a conservative estimate.
Veggie prices shoot up
He said vegetable prices, especially that of tomato, a staple of the Kerala diet, had skyrocketed. “Kerala is bracing for a pricey Onam, given the government’s bad finances,” he said.
He said the special fuel cess had hit the sale of high-speed diesel in Kerala. Truckers and motorists chose to tank up from fuel outlets in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The fuel cess has inflated the cost of commute and freight movement.
Mr. Satheesan said the government had upended family budgets by increasing water and power tariffs and building taxes. The government had forced the public to pick up the tab for its tax collection failure. The GST regime should have benefitted Kerala, a predominantly consumer State. The GST department had yet to detect and prosecute tax evaders. “Revenue collection has dwindled,” he alleged.
Mr. Satheesan said the government should state whether it planned to distribute Onam kits through the PDS system. The government failed to curb black market operations and hoarding.
