Thiruvananthapuram: Ration shops across Kerala will shut down for an indefinite period from Saturday, Nov 26, in protest against the drastic cut in the commission for dealers. The joint meeting of the dealers’ associations announced the closure.
The commission amount due to more than 10,000 ration dealers in the State has been cut down by almost half for the month of October. The order in this regard was issued by the Civil Supplies Commissioner.
Rs 29.51 crore is due to be paid as the commission for October. Of this, 49 per cent has been cut down and Rs 14.46 crore only had been allotted by the Finance Department and the commission can only be distributed accordingly, says the Commissioner’s order.
The district ration officers have also been entrusted to distribute the commission to the ration dealers accordingly.
Normally, a ration dealer gets Rs 18,000 as the commission per month. Of this, the dealer is to pay the rent for the shop, 5 per cent income tax, electricity bill, salesman’s pay and welfare board payments, besides the fines imposed by the Department itself.
Though the Government promised to pay the previous month’s commission by the 5th of every month, for the past many months, the payment has been getting delayed up to the middle or end of the month.
The dealers’ associations have demanded full payment of the commission.
The officer-bearers of the All-Kerala Retail Ration Dealers Association, KRUF (CITU) and KRUF (AITUC) participated in the joint meeting of the dealers on Monday.
