Union agriculture, food and public distribution minister Sharad Pawar attributed the poor condition of the food grain stock to the inferior condition of government godowns. He offered private parties and co-operative societies provision of godowns against the assured rent for seven years from the government. Pawar was chief guest in the golden jubilee function of the Maharashtra State Co-operative Marketing Federation at YB Chavan centre in Nariman Point on Saturday. He said that foodgrains worth Rs58,000 crore are wasted per annum due to the lack of or inferior quality of the storage facilities.
He said that the crop of wheat and rice has been very good this year and the yield has already started coming into the market. “But the question is: where are we going to store the food grains of the bumper rabi crop? All the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns are full and the media has been reporting the rotting of the foodgrains over there. It’s true that our godowns are not up to the mark to store food grains in good conditions,” he said. Pawar said that state government should come forward for the maintenance of the godowns at a certain level. “The officials and ministers concerned should visit the godowns in Singarpore to study their kind of preservation,” he said.
He added that the food security act will be promulgated in a period of six months to a year to ensure that every person in the country gets his or her right of minimum food grains. “Every person will get assured stock at an ascertained rate as his right,” he said. Pawar also reiterated that the days of the loan waivers are gone and no such demands be made. “The waivers are damaging to the financial system of the country and also are not justified for the farmers and people from co-operative sector who pay their loan on time,” he said.
