Minister for Food and Civil Supplies P. Thilothaman has said that the State government is planning to open Maveli stores in all grama panchayats during this fiscal as part of its attempts to make available essential goods at fair prices.
He was speaking after opening a Maveli store at Mukkali in Kozhikode district on Friday.
The Minister said the prices of 14 items being supplied through Maveli stores had not been increased in the last three years despite the steep rise in fuel prices and other transportation expenses. On the efforts taken by the government to improve the presence of Maveli stores, he said such units would be gradually upgraded as supermarkets and hypermarkets. The distribution of mineral water through Maveli stores was one of the important interventions made in recent times to end the monopoly of private players in the sector, he added. The Minister made it clear that the functioning of ration shops would be streamlined in the days to come. At first, the electronic weighing machines in ration shops would be linked with the Electronic Point of Sale machines, he said.
C.K. Nanu, MLA, chaired the inaugural event.