The government has incurred a loss of Rs 236.32 crore till June this fiscal due to damage of FCI foodgrains in storage and transit, Parliament was informed today.
About 1,13,881 tonnes of foodgrains, valuing Rs 236.32 crore has been lost in transit, storage and due to theft, Food Minister K.V Thomas said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
According to the data placed before the Lower House, the government has lost Rs 120.29 crore worth of foodgrains in storage, Rs 106.18 crore-worth of grain in transit, while the rest Rs 9.85 crore-worth of foodgrains were non-issuable.
Food Corporation of India (FCI) is the government’s nodal agency that procures and distributes foodgrains.
Thomas said that considering large volume of procurement of foodgrains by FCI “some losses may occur during storage due to pilferage/ thefts, floods, during transportation and loss of moisture during prolonged storage”.
However, steps have been taken to ensure the quantum of foodgrains lost/damaged at bare minimum level in spite of increase in procurement and stocks of FCI over the last three years, he said.
For minimising the loss of grains during storage, Thomas added remedial steps like foodgrains are to be stored by adopting proper scientific code of storage practises.
In the reply Food Minister also noted that it has been mandated that only covered rail wagons are to be used for movement of foodgrains as to avoid damage during the transit.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.