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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | PM to take stock of food storage facility today

PM to take stock of food storage facility today

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published Published on May 2, 2012   modified Modified on May 2, 2012

-The Times of India

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to discuss the foodgrain storage and crop situation with food minister K V Thomas and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday amid news of a bumper harvest this year and overflowing granaries. 

The meeting, slated for Monday, was postponed, and is likely to discuss options before the government to offload the grains in the central pool that are expected to reach record levels by June. 

While in Parliament, Thomas allayed fears of rotting grains by noting that relatively little quantity had gone bad last year, the government is caught in a quandary between exporting grains and distributing it under the subsidized public distribution system. 

Thomas had told the Rajya Sabha that the stock of wheat and rice stood at 199.52 lakh tonnes and 333.50 lakh tonnes, respectively, as on April 1, 2012, against the buffer norms of 70 lakh tonnes and 142 lakh tonnes for wheat and rice, respectively. 

But the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in a recent note to the government warned that by the beginning of June, 2012, a total of 472.9 lakh tonnes of grains would be lying in FCI warehouses and with Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana governments. It had noted that "FCI and the state agencies will be faced with unprecedented problems of shortage of storage capacity resulting in large stock of wheat in CAP (kept in open plinths covered with tarpaulin) in Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. It is also possible that substantial quantity may have to be storied in unscientific plinths." 

By June, when monsoon begins to lash across the country, 231.82 lakh tonnes of wheat will be exposed to sun on the plinths in these three states. 

The concerns have also been raised by the Opposition in Parliament, and the UPA could face the heat in the monsoon session once news of rotting grains start pouring in from the surplus states. 

Sharad Yadav of JD (U) speaking in the Lok Sabha had said on Monday, "There is no greater priority at the moment, the cabinet should immediately decide what the government will do with the grains. This time there is no space for storage and a lot of foodgrains will be destroyed. The government should open a warm room for this immediately." 

While the government has permitted some export of non-basmati rice, the GoM has not taken a kind view of providing more grains under the PDS to the states. The off-take under PDS to states is expected to be even lower than the previous year. 

The Times of India, 2 May, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/PM-to-take-stock-of-food-storage-facility-today/articleshow/12958074.cms


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