In a shocking development, Union Petroleum Ministry has advised the Odisha Government to buy kerosene at the market price to distribute as relief in the cyclone and flood-affected areas of the state.

The response came to the letter written by Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Pratap Keshari Deb, who sought 9,768 kilo litre of kerosene under the Special Allocations quota.

The Odisha Government has been forced to buy kerosene at Rs 72.46 instead of Rs 13.85 under the PDS. At least 3,000 kilo litre of kerosene were procured from Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL at market price to be sent to Cyclone and flood devastated Ganjam district.

Apart from that, kerosene has been supplied to some other affected districts for October 2012 under the PDS. They include, Puri (1,224 kilo litre), Jagatsinghpur (1,140 kilolitre), Kendrapara (1,340 kilolitre), Khordha (1,620 kilolitre), Jajpur (1,284 kilolitre), Bhadrak (1,116 kilolitre), Balasore (1,572 kilolitre), Mayurbhanj (2,160 kilolitre), Nayagarh (912 kilolitre), Gajapati (504 kilolitre) and Kandhamal (588 kilolitre).