The food distribution agencies of states across India have failed to lift the desired quantities of foodgrains under the additional allocation made for the Public Distribution System (PDS).
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) sought instructions from Government of India in September 2010 to offload an additional 2.5 million tonne for the PDS as a consequence of the reports about poor storage and rottening of grains in the various parts of the country. The allocation was futher revised to 3.06 million tonnes. This constituted 1.68 million tonnes of wheat and 1.38 million tonnes of rice.
"The allocation was made on September 7 and we have been able to disburse 1.65 lakh tonne only. We need to take up the matter with the state agencies for the tepid reponse from their side. The additional allocation has to be exhausted by March 2011 but the pace of movement is not satisfactory," said Shiraj Hussain, CMD of FCI.
The states of Bihar, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have lifted small quantities of rice. Wheat has been lifted only by Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Bihar, Assam and Uttaranchal.
All the states are lagging behind the quota allocated to them.
The senior officials in the departments of Food and Civil Supplies in the states said, it was done for the first time at this scale and the supplies were done in batches so the grains could not be distributed consistently. Now, the Government of India has released the additional stock for next six months so this distribution would be streamlined.
The officials also apprised that the beneficiaries were not mobilised for the additional allocation that caused snags in distribution.
The government has also become flexible by incorporating the APL (above poverty line) families in the additional allocation, so this may help to expidite the distribution, said one of the official.
The procurement agencies want to offload the buffer stock earliest due to the shortfall of storage area.
The FCI officials apprised that they would have discussions with the officials in the food and supply departments of the states to arrange for the timely distribution of grains.
