Kerala blames Centre for Price hike

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 2 (UNI) Accusing the Centre's wrong policies for the price hike of essential commodities, Kerala today said the price rise was only due to the neo-liberal policies pursued by the Centre.

Though inflation in the prices of essential commodities was a nation-wide problem, it was particularly debilitating the state, which imported a large proportion of essential commodities, '' Governor R L Bhtaia charged, while addressing the state legislative assembly on the first day of the budget session.

The various measures adopted by the Centre, which were supposed to be part of the march towards free markets, had only made the situation grim. ''The danger now is that instead of undertaking supply management and introducing price-control measures, the Centre my go in for further cuts in the amount of purchasing power available to the people, as the means of fighting inflation,'' he alleged.

Moreover, the Centre had reduced the allocation of wheat, sugar, Kerosene and LPG, which had contributed to the increase in prices and weakened the Public distribution system, he alleged.

He said the state government was purchasing essential commodities directly from the production centres to tackle this problem and telling them through CONSUMERFED, SUPPLYCO and co-operative societies at lower prices by providing subsidies.

''Kerala is a consumer state and 80 per cent of the consumer items were being imported from neighbouring states. Therefore, special assistance from the centre was necessary for effective market intervention,'' he said.

UNI