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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Pawar: Report about rotting foodgrain an exaggeration

Pawar: Report about rotting foodgrain an exaggeration

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published Published on Aug 13, 2010   modified Modified on Aug 13, 2010


Did the Union food minister hide facts from Parliament on the rotting grains in India? On Friday, Sharad Pawar claimed that the media reports of rotting of millions of tonnes of foodgrains are "quite exaggerated" while arguing that a master plan has been prepared to increase storage capacity.

Replying to CPM member Brinda Karat during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, Pawar said, "The statement which member made that millions of tonnes of foodgrains has been wasted or damaged, is not factually correct. It is quite an exaggeration."

But TOI has accessed a joint report of the Food Corporation of India and Punjab Agro, which states that 49,000 tonnes of grains in Punjab alone have become non-issuable (official jargon for rotting grains).

Pawar claimed on Friday that "There are certain cases of damages. We deputed teams to those places. They have gone into the detail of those cases. And they have taken action to suspend some of the officers also. And a detailed investigation is going on."

But Pawar ran shy of disclosing all the facts in Parliament. FCI has already informed the Union food ministry that Punjab is holding 1.36 lakh tonnes of wheat in what it calls CAP -- simply put grain stored in open under a mere polythene sheet -- since 2008-09. The stock has already suffered two monsoons of 2008 and 2009 and is now facing the third monsoon. The `ideal time', government stipulates, for keeping grains in open like this, is not more than a year. Another 27.38 lakh tonnes of wheat is similarly kept with the Punjab government, which was procured in 2009-10.

State agencies in Haryana are holding 31,574 MTs of foodgrains procured in 2008-09 and 18.90 lakh MTs of foodgrains procured in 2009-10.

Now unless the government has a plan to dispose these off immediately, within a year these too could be on the verge of rotting.

Pawar on Friday said the government has prepared a comprehensive plan to create 149.4 lakh tonnes of storage space to prevent damage of foodgrains. These will be built by Food Corporation of India (FCI) through private entrepreneurs and, Central and State warehousing corporations.

The deadline for completion of construction of godowns for private entrepreneurs would be one year, while that of godowns with railways sidings would be two years from the date of agreement, he said.

Pawar also said that the government is taking other steps to enhance storage capacity of foodgrains with special emphasis on the North-Eastern region.


The Times of India, 14 August, 2010, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pawar-Report-about-rotting-foodgrain-an-exaggeration/articleshow/6307231.cms


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