Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh:
Across the country, there have been reports of grain going to waste while hundreds of thousands continue to starve. The latest one comes from the state of Madhya Pradesh where a whopping 67 percent of the people live below the poverty line.
On February 5, The Food Corporation of India had sent 1,100 quintals of wheat to be distributed in Khandwa's ration shops. Three days later, 39 wagons of the wheat reached the station but one wagon went missing. The FCI claimed compensation for the missing stock.
Now, six months later, when the missing wagon was found, it was found that it had 85 quintals of wheat, that were rotted beyond repair. Those 85 quintals would have easily fed 250 Below Poverty Level (BPL) families for at least a month.
''I admit it is our mistake. Food grains should not be wasted like this. We will find out who is responsible for this,'' said Hemant Katiyaar, Divisional Railway Manager, Central Division.
In July, NDTV had highlighted how nearly three lakh metric tonnes of food grains in Madhya Pradesh was lying out in the open. Soon, the Supreme Court ordered that the government must distribute to the poor, stocks that might rot due to lack of storage space.
"About 75% of the stock has been dispatched to Maharashtra and it has been issued in the ration shops. The remaining 80 metric tonnes will be shifted in 2-3 weeks,' said S. K. Khare, General Manager, Food Corporation of India, Madhya Pradesh.
Despite all the assurances, it cannot be negated that there was a huge stock that had to burn, ironically in one of India's hungriest states where 60% children are malnourished and 7 percent die in hunger-related diseases, due to sheer negligence and carelessness.