FDI Executive Director says Centre provided one Crore 12 lakh extra food grains to Tamilnadu last year

FDI Executive Director says Centre provided one Crore 12 lakh extra food grains to Tamilnadu last year

@pibchennai

The Executive Director of Food Corporation of India R.D.Nazeem said that the Centre’s aim was to provide quality grains through PDS ensuring that no one is hungry during the pandemic. Speaking to newspersons in Chennai, he said that the Centre had provided one Crore 12 lakh extra food grains to Tamilnadu from April to November last year.

He said that 18 lakh 50 thousand people benefited through the Central Government’s Antyodya Anna Yojana in which people living below the poverty line were provided with 35 kilogram of rice for people living in the State of Tamilnadu. He said that the scheme was carried out at a cost of Rs.7588 crore.

Describing various initiatives of the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Yojana providing free food grains to the people, he said that in the month of May and June alone, one crore 12 lakh people were benefited by the scheme.  

Food Corporation of India will provide nine lakh tonnes of food grains for providing an extra five kilogram of rice to people living below the poverty line at a cost of Rs. 3375 crore.

In the normal days, the Centre provides Tamilnadu with three lakh tonne foodgrains for a month. The food grains are brought by 622 trains to the state.

The food grains which are procured are stored in 68 storage facilities including 14 own godowns belonging to the Food Corporation of India. He said that all the storage godowns have been fitted with CCTV cameras and one can see the storage facilities live on the FCI website. He also said that India’s grain production is high and the output is procured by the Government.