Business Line
A file picture shows birds feast on wheat spilling out of damaged sacks
at an open storage facility of the Food Corporation of India on the
outskirts of Karnal in Haryana. Photo: Kamal Narang.
As much as 1,94,502 metric tonnes of food grain worth crores of rupees
was wasted in India due to various reasons between 2005 and March 2013.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has given this information in reply
to an RTI query sought by a city-based activist Om Prakash Sharma.
He had filed an RTI query last month and sought information about the food grain wastage in India, which he got on Tuesday.
The reply provided details of the region-wise and commodity wise stock
accrued as non issuable (damaged) for each of the years separately for
the 23 regions in the country.
The damaged stock which stood at 95,075 MT in 2005-06 came down to 3,148
MT in 2012-13. The wastage was at 25,353 MT in 2006-07, 4,426 MT in
2007-08, and 20,114 MT in 2008-09, the report said.
It also said that of the damaged stock, around 84 per cent (1,63,576 MT) was rice and 14 per cent wheat (26,543 MT).
Punjab with a total damage stock of 98,200 MT recorded 50 per cent of
the total damages, while Maharashtra recorded a total of 20,067 MT of
damaged stock, accounting for 10 per cent of the total loss, the report
added.
Talking over the issue, Mr. Sharma expressed concern over the
government’s inability to curb wastage of food grain in the country.
“At a time, when so many people die of hunger in the country, there is
so much of wastage of food grain taking place. Those responsible for
this loss should be punished,” Mr. Sharma said.
