Thiruvananthapuram: The central government has not given any official assurance that the rice it has allotted to Kerala to distribute in the flood-affected areas would be free of cost, state food minister's office has said.
The union food department had allotted 89,540 tons of rice to Kerala to feed its population which has survived the worst floods in a century. The department also said that it would charge Rs 25 per kilo later.
As the issue snowballed into a controversy, union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters in New Delhi that the government would not ask the state for money.
Kerala food minister P Thilothaman's office, however, said that there was no official communication yet.
The Kerala government had asked the Centre for 1.14 lakh tons of rice, the equivalent of the rice distributed through the state's public distribution network a month. The request was made before prime minister Narendra Modi when he visited the state to take stock of the situation.
The union government agreed to part with only 89,540 tons and that too at Rs 25 per kilo.
The cost would be deducted either from the national disaster relief fund or Kerala’s flood relief fund.
The union government has only granted Kerala Rs 600 crore as interim flood relief though chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that initial estimates peg the loss of the state at about Rs 20,000 crore, twice the amount earmarked for infrastructure development for the current financial year.
If Paswan’s assurance is not put on paper, Kerala will be left with only Rs 368 crore for relief and rehabilitation after paying the Centre for the rice.
Kerala government officials said the state could have bought rice through a tender process at a cheaper rate.
The torrential rain and floods in Kerala have claimed hundreds of lives besides rendering over 14 lakh people homeless.
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