The government is planning to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in all godowns and warehouses owned by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to get a first-hand information on the movement and distribution of grains, plug diversion of items meant for the Public Distribution System (PDS).
The project, pilot for which has already been approved by the food ministry, will be centrally monitored to enable easier tracking of food items from FCI warehouses.
“It will also help in checking diversion of grains from government warehouses in the open market,” Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs K V Thomas told Business Standard. The centralised monitoring system will be installed in the food ministry.
Thomas said the Corporation had already started a system of daily update through computerised linkages.
“We have started getting daily and sometimes hourly updates on the quantity of grains coming into a particular FCI warehouse, grains moving out of the warehouse and also its age (the time period for which it has been stored in the warehouse), which will be further enhanced once CCTV cameras are installed in the warehouses,” Thomas said. A large quantity of grains allocated by the Centre to states gets diverted into the open market due to improper tracking and monitoring.
Although some states like Chhattisgarh have started a computerised and GPS-based tracking system, but much has not been done at the central level. Unofficial estimates and independent studies show annually almost an approximate 20%-40% of total foodgrains supplied through the PDS does not reach the reach the real beneficiary.
“This will be of great help in checking diversion of foodgrains,” officials said.In 2010-2011, the government released almost 470.65 lakh tonnes of grains under the targeted PDS for distribution to Above Poverty Line (APL), Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and also to beneficiaries under the Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY).
