Grain rots, hunger stalks

Aligarh: While thousands in India continue to die of hunger every day, tonnes of grains get wasted due to storage space limitations. This is a shocking example of government's negligence.

Across three states, lakhs of sacks of grain rot, simply because there isn't enough space to store them.

Over 2 lakh sacks of wheat in Aligarh, worth  Rs 18 crore growing mould in the rain.

Wheat and yellow peas worth Rs 5 crore decaying at Udaipur Railway Station

72 lakh metric tonne of food grain, worth Rs 800 crore lying outside Punjab's granaries

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These are a part of the Government of India's food grains, meant to be supplied to ration shops that serve as the lifeline for Below Poverty Level(BPL) families, getting wasted due to lack of storage space. However the authorities are on the denial mode.

K. Shrivastav, Regional Manager, Food Corporation Godown in Aligarh says ''the godown has a lot of vacant space and there is no dearth of supplies. We are trying to accommodate stocks lying in open in our godown."

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In a country where more than 27% people are below poverty line, Mehfooz Khan has a BPL ration card, However, most of the months, he does not get his quota of food grains. Why? Because the ration shops are short of supplies.

The flawed storage system of the Food Corporation of India(FCI) is unable to ensure that food grains reach the poor rather than rotting due to lack of storage space.

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Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister says, ''It's time for quick action. There have been reports in the press.  Those who are responsible for the neglect will be suspended immediately."

One of the most basic infrastructural requirement is proper warehousing of food supplies. But despite several technological advances, when it comes to storage options, what we encounter is just the blame game, while it is time enough for some real solution.

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