The Tamil Nadu Government has expressed concern over the Centre cutting down kerosene allocation to half that of the State’s requirement.
The demand for kerosene over the Public Distribution System is about 65,140 kilolitres a month. But the Centre has brought down the allocation in stages to 39,429 kl. Last June it allocated about 44,580 kl.
The Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, has urged the Centre to supply the State’s actual requirement or at least restore it to April-May 2011 levels.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the Chief Minister pointed out that she had requested the Centre to allocate the State’s full requirement of kerosene in an earlier letter, and had followed it up with a memorandum she had submitted to him personally a fortnight later.
She had also pointed out that in April and May Tamil Nadu’s allocation had been 52,806 kl a month but it had been reduced to 44,850 kl in June 2011 and slashed further to 39,429 kl in April, May and June 2012.
Ms Jayalalithaa said in the letter, “I can only term this 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. Hence, I request you to kindly 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.”