Jayalalithaa flays Centre for kerosene cut

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Chief minister J. Jayalalithaa mounted a scathing attack on the Centre Friday for “consistently reducing allocation of kerosene to Tamil Nadu”.

“While I have been all along pointing out to you that the poor people in rural and urban areas of Tamil Nadu depend on kerosene supplied through the public distribution system (PDS), this callous approach on the part of Government of India in consistently reducing the allocation is tantamount to penalising the poor simply because they voted for All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam,” she said in a letter to the Prime Minister.

The chief minister described the Centre’s action as “totally arbitrary”. “The deliberate reduction in the allocation of kerosene by the Government of India to Tamil Nadu even to the extent of 50 per cent of the actual requirement is absolutely unreasonable, unacceptable, unfair and unjust,” Ms Jayalalithaa said Friday, and urged the Prime Minister to reconsider the whole matter and ensure justice by enhancing the allocation of kerosene to 65,140 KL per month or at least to 52,806 KL which was allotted for April-May 2011.

She said against the actual requirement of 65,140 KL per month, the allotment was reduced to 52,806 KL for April-May 2011 and again to 44,580 KL without any reason. Now, the allocation has been further cut to 39,429 KL for the quarter April-June 2012 again “without any reason or logic”, the chief minister said.

Ms Jayalalithaa recalled that she had pointed out to Dr Singh in her earlier communications that the poor people in the rural and urban areas depend on kerosene supplied through the PDS despite which the allocation had been further reduced now.

DMK demo at govt offices on May 30

With the mounting protest against steepest petrol price hike announced by oil manufacturing companies, DMK, an ally of the UPA government at the Centre, announced that it would hold demonstration in front of the state and Central government offices on May 30 seeking a substantial reduction in the increase.

The unprecedented increase of Rs7.50 per litre of petrol has already sparked “spontaneous” protests by people against the government across the country, the party said.

“If the Centre cannot roll back the price hike fully, it should at least substantially reduce it, as the hike would further hit the people already suffering due to inflation and price rise,” the DMK, a major ally of the Congress-led UPA, said.
An official released of the party noted that the Centre’s action dealt a further blow on the people of the state already facing hardship due to the hike in the milk price, bus fare and power tariff imposed by AIADMK government.

Protesting against the Central and state governments, DMK would stage peaceful demonstrations in front of the central government offices and district collectorates in all district headquarters, it said.

DMK’s decision to hold a protest a day ahead of Opposition-sponsored Bharat Bandh on May 31 comes amid growing protests against the hike which has also been opposed by Trinamool Congress, another key regional ally of UPA.

His archrival and CM J. Jayalalithaa condemned the price hike and termed it “a gift given to the people by the UPA coalition government on its completion of three years in office”.