THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala has mooted the formulation of a commission to fix the prices of petroleum products. In an approach paper to the 12th Five Year Plan drafted by him, the KPCC president alleged that the oil companies had no specific norms on price hikes. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy released the approach paper by handing over a copy to Cultural Affairs Minister K C Joseph at a function held at Indira Bhavan here on Friday. In his approach paper, the KPCC chief recommended a revision in the norms for Below Poverty Line (BPL) category. The existing norms have left many deserving persons out of its ambit, he said. The paper also emphasises the need for empowerment programmes along with poverty alleviation programmes. On the employment front, the KPCC president proposes some intense measures, including encouraging the migration for employment and liberal loans for self-employment ventures. Chennithala cautioned that the move towards policies promoting commercialisation of education would badly affect the middle class. Government control is essential in FDI in the education sector, he said. He also raised an alarm over the recommendation in the draft plan to limit electricity subsidy to the poor and to hike the price of water for irrigation. Such policies are against social justice, he said. A system to ensure fair prices of essential commodities is another recommendation. Chennithala has also suggested various measures for reducing environment pollution in his approach paper. Exploiting the potential of water transport would be a major step in this regard, he said.
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