Amid reports of states facing problems in movement and storage of foodgrains in view of bumper procurement this year, the Centre has convened a high level meeting of major foodgrain-procuring states on Wednesday to address the issues.
The meeting in Delhi will be chaired by Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs KV Thomas and will be attended by senior officials of various central ministries, representatives of Planning Commission and chairman of Unique Identification Authority (UIA).
The meeting will review progress of ongoing procurement operations and augmentation of storage capacity, an official statement said here today.
Shortage of storage space had been reported from Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan among others in the face of bumper wheat procurement this year.
The government is taking steps to create additional covered storage capacity of more than 15.2 million tonne across 19 states.
The state governments have also been requested to introduce a scheme for their own storage needs through PPP (Public-Private Partnership) model. Instructions have been given to FCI for introducing mechanisation of foodgrains handling and optimum utilisation of existing storage space.
Besides this, FCI has been directed to hire as much as possible additional space from private sources to supplement its efforts for proper storage of foodgrains.
The day-long meeting will also take stock of allocation, availability and off take of foodgrains under various schemes.
Recently, the Centre had allocated additional quantity of 5 million tonnes of foodgrain for BPL families and another 5 million tonne for APL families.
Allocation of further 5 million tonnes for 150 poorer districts is also being worked out. To ensure that these additional allocations reach the targeted groups, the Centre has been repeatedly emphasising to the states to lift the allocations and distribute the same expeditiously.
