THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the price of daily use items skyrocketing, squads from the Civil Supplies and the Legal Metrology departments will launch surprise raids at wholesale centers from Friday. Meanwhile, the Agricultural department has rolled out 'Thakkali Vandi (tomato vans) to sell vegetables at a cheaper price. The tomato vans will sell tomatoes at Rs 50 per kg.
Action will be taken if a large difference is found between the rate at which vegetables are purchased by the wholesale centres and the rate at which they are sold to retailers. The surprise raids will be conducted to prevent creating inflation through hoarding. More rice will be delivered so that Supplyco outlets will be able to sell it at lower prices. The government's action came following a report published in Kerala Kaumudi about middlemen creating inflation under the cover of floods in neighbouring states. The squads were deployed on the instructions of Minister GR Anil.
Two tomato vans will travel around each district. Agriculture Minister P Prasad inaugurated the vans yesterday. Meanwhile, Horticorp will continue to sell vegetables purchased directly from farmers.
A committee has been set up with the Agriculture Secretary as chairman and the Agriculture Director as convener to take immediate action in case of inflation. Allocation of reserve funds is also under consideration. A permanent committee headed by the Agriculture Director has been constituted to procure vegetables.
Tomato vans provide relief