West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today urged the Centre to maintain the allocation of kerosene oil to the state at the level of March this year.
"I would request you to kindly take urgent decision in this matter and maintain the allocation of 78,608 kl to the state at the level as it existed in March, 2016," Banerjee said in a letter to the Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Concerned with "drastic reduction" in allocation of kerosene oil to the state since April this year, Banerjee said this would cause "grave distress" to the consumers in remote and tribal areas and would adversely affect the poor, SC, ST, minorities and economically weaker sections of the society.
Asserting that Chief Secretary Basudeb Banerjee has taken up the matter with the Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas recently, Banerjee said the state government has taken strong steps and cancelled 1.41 crore fake and bogus ration cards to ensure the benefits reach the target population.
