Lockdown: FCI transports record foodgrains on Saturday to meet domestic demand

New Delhi, Apr 5 () Food Corporation of India, the nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains, has transported record quantities of 1.93 lakh metric tonnes of grains on Saturday to different parts of the country for providing relief to poor amid the lockdown.

"Continuing with its efforts to ensure that enough food grain stocks are made available in every part of the country during countrywide lock down, FCI has set a new record in single day movement by moving 70 rakes carrying 1.93 lakh metric tonnes continuously for two days on April 3 and April 4," an official statement said.

During the 12 days since start of the lockdown on April 24, FCI has done average movement of 1.41 lakh tonne foodgrain per day as against the pre-lockdown daily average of about 0.8 lakh tonnes, it said.

A total of 605 rakes carrying about 16.94 lakh tonne of foodgrains have been transported across the country during this period.

Punjab supplied the maximum foodgrains of about 46 per cent at 7.73 lakh tonne, followed by Haryana (3.02 lakh tonne), Telangana (2.04 lakh tonne) and Chhattisgarh (1.15 lakh tonne).

Other states like Odisha, Andhra Pradesh etc moved the rest.

Foodgrains were transported to consuming states. Maximum quantities were supplied to Uttar Pradesh (2.07 lakh tonnes), followed by Bihar (1.96 lakh tonnes), West Bengal (1.65 lakh tonnes) and Karnataka (1.57 lakh tonnes).

Keeping special focus on the North East, a quantity of 1.4 lakh tonnes food grains have been inducted into the region during the lockdown period.

"FCI is ensuring that the requirements of every state is met without any shortages," the statement said.

As on April 4, FCI is having 55.47 million tonnes food grains (31.23 million tonnes rice and 24.24 million tonnes wheat) in central pool.

FCI is distributing foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), under which 5kg of foodgrains is supplied per month to 80 crore people at Rs 2-3 per kg only.

In view of coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown, an additional allocation of 5kg per person per month has been announced under the PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) for the next three months, to provide relief to the people. One kg of pulses per month per family will also be provided.

FCI is also providing wheat and rice directly, without going through the e-auction route, at Open Market sale rates to ensure continuous supply of food grains in the open market.

Wheat is given for meeting the requirements of flour mills and other products based on the assessment of requirements done by the respective district magistrates.

Rice is given to the state governments for further distribution through their channels. So far, FCI has allotted 1.38 lakh tonnes of wheat in 13 states and 1.32 lakh tonnes of rice in 8 states under this model, the statement said. MJH BALBAL