Minister for Food and Public Distribution Ramvilas Paswan claimed on Wednesday that less than one per cent of the total foodgrains in FCI godowns have gone waste since 2015-16.
This comes in the backdrop of widespread criticism that the Narendra Modi government is holding back on distributing foodgrains, even as hunger rises on the streets during the ongoing lock down.
“It is common belief that every year a lot of foodgrains get spoiled in FCI godowns, which is absolutely misleading,” Mr. Paswan said in a series of tweets. He claimed that 623.06 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of rice and wheat were procured in 2015-16, out of which 3116 tonnes was lost. This was 0.005% of the total purchase.
In 2016-17, the loss was 0.014 per cent. “Then in 2017-18, out of 690 LMT grains, 2664 tonnes, which is 0.003% of the total purchase, was damaged. In 2018-19, out of 801 LMT purchases, 0.006% i.e. 5214 tonnes of grain was damaged,” Mr. Paswan said.
In 2019-20, 0.002 per cent of the foodgrains was damaged, which amounted to a total of 1930 tonnes of grains. “We have reduced the level of food waste by adopting scientific methods of storage and distribution,” he said.
