Kerala - Alappuzha   

Project to tackle price rise awaits sanction

ALAPPUZHA: A Rs.200-crore project proposed nearly six months back by the Cooperation Department to tackle the rising prices of essential goods is awaiting approval from the State and Union governments.

The proposal, Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran said, envisaged setting up of around 10,000 ‘anti-price rise’ cooperative outlets across the State to sell 32 essential goods, including rice, at 25 per cent lesser than the prevailing market rate.

The outlets would be operated round the year by Kerala State Consumer Federation Limited (Consumerfed) and the local cooperative societies.

“The project needs a working capital of Rs.200 crore, which according to the proposal can be shared by the Centre, State and the cooperative sector. While the Centre and the State can give Rs.50 crore each, Rs.100 crore can be mopped up from the cooperative sector. However, the project is yet to get approval,” the Minister said. While there could be five to seven of these outlets in each panchayats, depending on the size of the panchayat, a municipality could have 10 to 12 and a corporation, around 25 outlets.

“Of course, the number of items sold here will depend on the availability of each item. But such a large number of cooperative outlets selling essential goods at lesser prices could certainly have helped us tackle the price rise,” Mr. Sudhakaran told The Hindu.

The Minister also said the cooperative movement through the department and the societies could play a major role in helping the public overcome price rise by running such fair price outlets.

Already, the department through the Consumerfed and the local cooperative societies operated 15,737 fair price outlets in the last 23 months, each for varying periods during different seasons including Onam, Vishu, Christmas and Bakrid, to name a few.

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