The Hindu : Kerala News : People’s Bazaars for all districts

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Wednesday, Sep 05, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

People’s Bazaars for all districts

Special Correspondent

Market intervention strategy

Licences given to retail chains to be reviewed
Supplyco plans distribution of LPG cylinders

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: People’s Bazaars will be opened in all districts as part of the Government’s market intervention strategy to regulate the price of essential commodities, Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran has said.

Replying to questions in the Assembly on Tuesday, Mr. Divakaran said that Metro People’s Bazaars would be opened in major cities. The Government will re-examine the licences given to multinational companies (MNCs) to enter the retail sector in the State. Even while initiating legal steps to prevent the entry of MNCs, the Civil Supplies Corporation is being equipped to face the competition. Again, the Government will not issue licences to such companies, he said.

The corporation has plans for distribution of LPG cylinders. Shortage of domestic cylinders is due to oil companies’ efforts to bring down the loss.

Mr. Divakaran said in a written reply that 1,145 raids were conducted in August to prevent black-marketing of domestic LPG cylinders. As many as 549 cylinders were seized in the raids, he said.

The Government has detected 165 cases pertaining to black-marketing of ration goods and 165 cases have been registered, 114 of them in Thiruvananthapuram.

A draft Bill for setting up a veterinary university has been forwarded to the Law Department for clearance. It has been proposed at Vythiri, he said.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said stringent action would be taken against officials who delayed the decision on files in Government offices. Frequent reviews are being conducted to expedite the movement of files and take early decisions. As many as 1,30,376 files were pending clearance in the Secretariat till July last, of which 13,172 files had been pending for the past two years and 17,198 files for the past one year. Disciplinary action has been taken against 39 officials for failing to provide information under the Right to Information Act, he said.

The Government is planning to lay the foundation stone for the proposed Smart City project in September. Infrastructure facilities including roads, water and power have been readied for the project. As much as 222 acres of land has been acquired and steps for acquiring 24 acres are progressing. Chairman and director have been appointed, he said.

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