Kasaragod: Alert fishermen thwarted a bid to sell kerosene meant to be distributed among fishermen at subsidized price at Mathsya Fed Bunk at Kasaragod-Kasaba, late on Monday night. One employee of the bunk and a person who had come to take away 470 lts subsidy kerosene has been handed over to the police. The bunk has been shut down by the police as of now.
On spotting something suspicion going on at the bunk, a group of fishermen approached and realised that a deal was being struck to sell off the subsidy kerosene meant for fishermen. Soon, the fishermen alerted the police and the accused were nabbed.
The angry fishermen complained that they have been put to trouble over the last few days as the government’s subsidy kerosene was not being made available to them. However, they said that they now realise that sale of kerosene meant for fishermen in black market is the reason behind the artificial scarcity.
Two days ago, 11,000 lts of kerosene was supplied to the bunk and on receiving the information, the fishermen had taken tokens to get their share. But, even after waiting for several hours, they could not get kerosene. They had to walk back home empty hand after they were told that the stock of kerosene was over.
The fishermen said that bunk has been selling the kerosene which is available at Rs 60.25 after deducting the subsidy amount, in the black market at Rs 80 to Rs 90.
