Bhopal:
When malnutrition is the stark reality in most of the states, it is difficult to believe that food could be getting wasted due to lack of storage space.
Nearly five thousand metric tons of wheat bought from local farmers by the Seoni district Cooperative society is rotting out in the rain.
Even though, in the last one year, a hundred children have died of malnutrition in MP.
When the NDTV team reached ground zero to do a reality check, it found labourers covering the sacks with a black plastic sheet and some lame explanations.
"Since there are not enough godowns for storage, we are forced to keep five thousand metric ton of wheat out in the open and send forty thousand metric tons to other districts," said B K Agrawaal, manager, warehouse , Seoni .
The picture is not very different in the neighbouring districts either. Not very far away from Seoni district is Harda. Rotting grains, plastic sacks open, grains spilling out, getting wet. It's the same picture across all state.
In Vidisha, nearly forty five thousand metric tonnes of food grain stands soaking in the rain water, it was removed when the media brought up the issue.
In Hoshangabad, ten thousand metric tonnes are getting wasted.
In Harda district, nearly 1500 metric tonnes are rotting.
According to the official estimate, three lakh metric tonnes of food grains are in temporary storage, in other words it is lying in the open. This, even as the BPL families in Madhya Pradesh are getting just 20 to 25 kg of food grain a month which is less than the 35 kg stipulated by the Supreme Court.
"We are asking the supreme court commissioner's office to discuss and plan with Govt of India, Food corporation of India and the ministry of food and civil supplies to allocate this full amount of food grain to poor families ,especially to those families who are most marginalized and mal nourished," said Sachin Jain , Adviser to Supreme Court, Right To food , Madhya Pradesh.
Out of the three lakh metric tonnes of food grains lying in the open , If thirty five kgs are distributed to the BPL families, almost seven lakh marginalized families will have food on their platter for at least one full year.
In such a situation, grain rotting in the state is nothing short of a criminal wastage when three out of five children sleep without Food.