Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri on Sunday asked the Central government to release the stock of food that are currently in godowns of the Food Corporation of India and ensure it reaches the needy.
Mr. Alagiri said the FCI had a stock of 77 million tonnes of food grains in its godowns. Taking into account the increase in population over the years, the government should release these grains, he demanded.
Out of the 80.3 crore persons covered under the National Food Security Act, only 60.3 crore received free rations in April and May during the Covid-19 lockdown period, he said.
But, out of the 12 million tonnes of food grains that were to be distributed across the country, only 6.8 million tonnes have been distributed till now leading to the poor people suffering due to hunger, he said.
He asked Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan, to ensure that these foodgrains were distributed at the earliest.
