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| Our godowns have enough food grains for nine months: Ram Vilas Paswan |
Sanjay Patil : NEW DELHI: Food and consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that the government is keeping a track on the availability of all essential items in the market and people should not panic.
“We are in constant touch with state governments to ensure that there is no shortage of any essential items. Traders and manufacturers should not indulge in hoarding and blackmarketing during these testing times,” Paswan said
According to government notification, grocery shops, grocery shops, grocery warehouses, dairies, vegetable shops, meat and fish shops and animal fodder centres will remain open amid the lock down.
“We are talking to district administrations for organising home deliveries of essential items. District administration of various states are working on a model,” said a consumer affairs ministry official.
The food ministry said that there is no shortage of food grains in the country.
“People should not panic. There is no scarcity of of foodgrains in the country. As on April 1, 2020, we need 7.46 million tonnes of wheat and 13.58 million tonnes of rice for ration shops. But we have 64.6 million tonnes of food grains in our stock, which is 43.56 million tonnes more than the requirement,” Paswan said.
The Centre allowed states to lift three months of ration in advance on credit from the Food Corporation (FCI) warehouses, to help them distribute foodgrains free of cost to the poor and vulnerable sections impacted by the COVID-19.
Punjab has lifted 6 months of in advance foodgrains from central stock.
Paswan said other states may also follow this as godowns are brimming with rice and wheat.
Apart that that, the centre has buffer stock of 3 million tonnes of pulses 1.5 million tonnes of oilseeds and 4 million tonnes of sugar.
“We can offload these as and when needed. So there is nothing to panic. We are well prepared in case of any shortage reported,” said a consumer affairs ministry official.
However, there have been reports of disruption in the supply of vegetables, fruits, meat and eggs. Vendors are finding it difficult to reach vegetable shops and mandis and police is also not allowing trucks and vehicles carrying vegetables and fruits in some places. In most of the places, local administration is not allowing delivery men of e-commerce companies and etailers to deliver order despite the government order mentioning exemption in delivery of essential goods including food item throu e-commerce during lockdown.
“Websites of etailers like big basket is mentioning that their services are not available as there is problem in getting permission for delivery. We are trying to I sort this out with state governments,” said an official.
Our godowns have enough food grains for nine months: Ram Vilas Paswan
Our godowns have enough food grains for nine months: Ram Vilas Paswan
The central government has enough grains to feed over 81 crore beneficiaries of the public distribution system (PDS) for nine months, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Sunday, expressing confidence that its granaries, expecting a boost from a "bumper" wheat crop, will have adequate stock for a much longer period.
With the government likely to extend the nation-wide lockdown till the month end, the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution minister said that the transportation and distribution of food grains at an "unprecedented" scale has emerged as a "lifeline" during the crisis, with the poor being assured of their ration supply in time.
As of April 10, the government-run godowns have 299.45 LMT (lakh metric ton) rice and 235.33 LMT wheat, totalling 534.78 LMT of the two major grains supplied to the poor, Paswan told
The per month supply through the PDS amounts to 60 LMT, he said. Coarse grains and pulses are also supplied through the PDS in a limited quantity.
"There is no shortage of grains. We now have a bumper rabi harvest and our estimate is that we will have adequate stock for up to two years," he said.
Though the extended lockdown may have sparked a variety of concerns, including about economy, but any shortage of essential grains like wheat and rice is the least of them.
Paswan said in a lighter vein that the condition is akin to "the lawyer (Centre) being more keen about the case than the client (states)", with the Union government constantly asking states to lift their quota of rations in time after it was announced that all PDS beneficiaries will get three months of supply free.
What has been seen is "unprecedented and historic", he said about the mechanism put in for the distribution of grains, with trains playing a key role.
Recently in one day, over 20.19 LMT of grains were moved through trains, a record, he noted.
The government has also made it easier for agencies, public or private, to purchase grains from it at a subsidised rate if they are involved in helping the poor.
"If in this lockdown there had been any issue regarding the supply supply of food grains, then it could have created a havoc. So the biggest satisfaction and relief is that it has all gone well," Paswan, a member of the Group of Ministers overseeing the lockdown exercise, said.
Following the start of the three-week lockdown from March 24 midnight, the government had announced three months of free ration for the PDS beneficiaries and also allowed them to purchase their usual monthly quota on credit for three months.
The antyodaya (poorest in the lot) beneficiaries, who get 35 kg of food grains per month irrespective of their family size, were allocated an additional 5 kg per head in the family.
These measures have been of huge help in ensuring that nobody goes hungry during the lockdown, and the government's steps to combat the pandemic get maximum support, he said.
Enough foodgrains stock with FCI; government closely monitoring PDS distribution: Ram Vilas Paswan
The government has enough foodgrain reserves to feed the poor amid the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Thursday.
State-run Food Corporation of India (FCI), the government's nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains under the Public Distribution System, is keeping a close watch on supply of subsidised grains to the ration-card holders, he added.
"FCI godowns has sufficient reserves to meet the demand and officials are keeping a close watch on distribution of foodgrains," Paswan said in a tweet.
Senior FCI officials have been asked to monitor the supply situation 24X7, he added.
According to official data, the government currently has total 58.49 million tonnes of foodgrain in the FCI godowns. Out of which, rice constitutes 30.97 million tonne and wheat 27.52 million tonne.
The foodgrain stock, however, is much higher than the required norm of maintaining a reserve of about 21 million tonne as on April 1.
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