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Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the harvest festival Onam is round the corner, Supplyco is grappling with a severe financial crisis. It may struggle to restock its outlets across Kerala as distributors have threatened not to supply commodities unless Rs 525 crore that is due to them is paid.
Supplyco is yet to clear the Rs 525 crore bill from the contractors for supplying commodities. Since there is uncertainty when the payment would be made, some of the contractors are not even taking part in the tenders floated by Supplyco.
Even as Supplyco is facing a credit squeeze, the Kerala Government is yet to pay Rs 3,000 it owes to Supplyco.
The break-up of govt dues
The government dues total Rs 3,119 crore. It has to pay Rs 1,462 crore to Supplyco for selling subsidized commodities; Rs 1,198 crore for paying farmers for the paddy procured; Rs 247 crore towards the expenses incurred in transporting essential commodities from the godowns to the ration outlets; Rs 30 crore for supplying provision kits during the COVID period; and Rs 146 crore for providing rice to schools for the noon meal programme.
Price rise adds to woes
Supplyco is hesitant to take delivery of commodities in bigger quantities owing to the high prices. It has already reduced the number of Onam markets this year. It has been decided that provision kits need not be given to all the ration card holders during Onam.
Already, sugar stocks have gone down at Supplyco outlets. The distributors are quoting Rs 41 per kg for the commodity that was being supplied earlier at Rs 38 per kg. A minimum quantity of 5,000 tonnes of sugar is required for supply every month in the State.
The distributors have fixed Rs 5 higher for a kilogram of black gram. After the contractors demanded Rs 125 per kg for tur dal that was earlier supplied at Rs 115 per kg, Supplyco is taking delivery of very limited quantities of it. Owing to the high price, chillies were not bought in the past two tendering processes. Matta rice is also in short supply.
The Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation is popularly known as 'Supplyco' after its brand name.
