The State Government on Thursday decided to completely abolish the three-decade-old sub-wholesale system in the distribution of kerosene under Public Distribution System from June 1.
Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Secretary Madhusudan Padhi said the decision was taken for the interest of the consumers who would avail kerosene at a cheaper rate by around 40 paise per liter.He said there would be a net save of Rs 400 per each Kl of kerosene due to the move. “The steps are being taken as per the recommendations of the Wadhwa Commission to bring changes in the PDS system,” he said, adding that there would be only two tier system, wholesalers and retailers in the distribution of Kerosene under the PDS.
Informing that the process of abolition has been started in five districts, Balasore, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Boudh and Subarnapur, since July 13, 2013, Padhi said rest of the sub-wholesalers would be withdrawn from June 1.Under the new provision, the oil marketing companies would make available kerosene at the sub-divisional level and the wholesalers would take it to their block-level depots. From there, retailers would transport kerosene for distribution.
There are 180 wholesalers engaged in the kerosene distribution spread over 114 locations in the State. There are as many as 1,000 sub-wholesalers operating in the entire State,he said.