No storage space for bumper harvest, warns food
ministry
(http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-15/india/31710820_1_food-grain-grain-under-public-distribution-lakh-tonnes) (07.10.2013)
NEW DELHI: Food Corporation of India
(FCI) has warned that unless the government can distribute 750 lakh tonnes of
food grain, there will be no storage space for the bumper harvest being
currently procured, the food ministry told Rajya Sabha on Monday.
The crisis of plenty has been
engaging the government for a while as it is under pressure to distribute food
grain to the poor or intervene in some manner to cool inflation and the FCI
alarm provides the clearest indication of the scale of the problem.
TOI had reported on the FCI notice
that central and state storages would be overflowing by the beginning of June.
The food ministry in a separate answer told Rajya Sabha that at present, a
total storage capacity of 627 lakh tonnes exists with FCI and the states, of
which 85% was used by the end of March.
By the first week of June, there
would be no space to store 12 million tonnes of food grain that is being
procured with high minimum price and bonus offered by states boosting
procurement to record levels. This 627 lakh tonnes include storage space in
proper godowns and outside on plinths. Government standards require that food
kept outside on plinths must be disposed of within a year to prevent them from
deteriorating.The note had warned, “It is clear that FCI and state
agencies will be faced with unprecedented problem of shortage of storage
capacity resulting in large stock of wheat in CAP (in the open) in Punjab,
Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. It is also possible that substantial quantity may
have to be stored in unscientific plinths.”
At current rates, the off take of
grain under public distribution system is expected to be 88.11 lakh tonnes less
than procurement. The FCI asked that 750 lakh tonnes of grains be offered to
the states to distribute through PDS through the 2012-13 financial year. The
government has been unable to take a call on further export of grains or
distribution under PDS though the food ministry had mooted a proposal almost a
month back. The decision was deferred at the GoM led by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee
with concerns about the subsidy bill for the year overshooting budgeted levels.
Following up, PM Manmohan Singh
held a meeting with the food and agriculture ministers but the decision was
deferred again to a committee chaired by PM’s chief economic advisor C
Rangarajan. A final call is yet to be taken. With stories of grain lying in the
open in state godowns in Punjab already coming in and states like Madhya
Pradesh complaining of shortage of gunny bags to pack the grain in, timely
rains — expected to hit Indian shores by the beginning of June — is likely to
only increase the government’s headache.
By beginning of June, 231 lakh
tonnes of wheat is expected to be sitting out on plinths in just the three
states of Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.