Mangaluru (The Hindu): An all-party delegation will be taken to the Union Petroleum Ministry demanding allocation of subsidised kerosene for fishermen using country boats, said Minister for Food and Civil Supplies U.T. Khader.

Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Mr. Khader said that presently the State government had been giving fishermen a part of kerosene allocated by the Union government for distribution at the fair price shops in the State.

Each of the 915 registered country boat operators in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada are getting 300 litres of kerosene at a subsidised rate per month.

“We have been doing it for many years. There have been instances when the supply from Centre got disrupted and thus causing problems for fishermen. Fishermen had difficulty in operating their boats for nearly a month and it was resolved on Wednesday,” he said.

Mr. Khader said that they planned to take an all-party delegation to Union Minister of State for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan and request a separate allocation of subsidised kerosene for fishermen in the three coastal districts.

Mr. Khader said they are waiting for the appointment of Mr. Pradhan.

On the issue of seeding fake Aadhaar card numbers with ration cards, Mr. Khader said they have found as many as 1.6 lakh cards with fake Aadhaar numbers. Following seeding of Aadhaar numbers, these card holders have obtained coupons for food grains at the ration shop. Mr. Khader said criminal cases will be filed against the accused, he said.