Sitting on a foodgrain stock that is almost two times the required level, the government Friday said the reserves in the FCI godowns across the country have been "kept safe" ahead of monsoon.
Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who reviewed the functioning of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), also said its officials have been directed to speed up the construction of modern silos with a capacity to store 10 million tonnes of foodgrain.
The government's grain inventory has built up due to record production and procurement in the last few years. The reserves with the FCI are about twice the required level of 41.1 million tonnes, as on June 1.
Southwest monsoon has been delayed and is expected to hit Kerala in the next couple of days.
Asked if the government has taken measures to handle overflowing godowns during monsoon, Paswan said: "The foodgrain procured by the FCI is not kept open. It is kept safely in the godowns."
Some quantity is kept in cover and plinth (CAP) storage and due care is taken to minimise the losses, he added.
Currently, the government has a capacity to store 85.15 million tonnes of foodgrains, against the requirement of 65 million tonnes. Of the total available storage, 12.6 million tonnes is CAP storage, as per official data.
The government has already procured over 76 million tonnes of rice and wheat so far this year and there is old stock lying in the godowns as well.
A food ministry official said "the total foodgrains stock was almost two times higher than the required level of 41.1 million tonnes as on June 1."
To offload surplus stock, the FCI has decided to sell 10 million tonnes of wheat to bulk consumers this fiscal, over 40 per cent more than the previous year, he said, adding that other steps are also being taken to reduce the stock.
This year's wheat production is pegged at a record 101.20 million tonnes and FCI expects to purchase 35.7 million tonnes of wheat in this rabi marketing season.
To address the storage issue and foodgrain loss, Paswan said the government will "speed up" construction of modern silos with a capacity of 10 million tonnes under the ongoing Private Entrepreneurship Guarantee (PEG) scheme.
"The pace of construction of silos is not to our satisfactory level. So far 6.75 lakh tonnes capacity of silos has been build against the target of 10 million tonnes," Paswan said, adding that FCI officials have been directed to address the gaps.
FCI officials have also been asked to draft a new policy to speed up work and RITES has been asked to come out with a model so that silos can be build fast.
To streamline FCI labour as per the Supreme Court orders, the minister said a 'single labour system' will be put in place in the next six months under which 40,000 labourers will be ensured security of the labour period and salary.
Currently in FCI, 20,000 labourers are on direct payroll, 11,000 are FCI recruited personnel who will retire by 2022 and 6,700 are on 'no work no pay' system.
"There are 30-40 labour unions in the FCI. We are building a consensus to merge with the new system," Paswan added.
With regard to filling up of 4,100 vacancies in FCI, the minister said the FCI has been directed not to delay the process and ensure there is transparent recruitment via staff selection process.
Paswan also said a meeting of state food ministers and food secretaries will be called later this month to discuss FCI issues.
A separate meeting with former food secretaries and experts would be called separately to chalk out a road map for improving the FCI operations, he added.
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