One crore Indians starve as grains rot in FCI godowns

Over 10 lakh tonnes of foodgrains worth several hundred crores of rupees, which could have fed over one crore hungry people for a year, were damaged in Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns during the last one decade.

The damages were suffered despite the FCI spending Rs 242 crore while trying to prevent any loss of foodgrains during storage. Ironically another 2.59 crore was spent just to dispose off the rotten foodgrains.

These startling facts came in reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by a Delhi resident. FCI informed that 10 lakh tonnes of foodgrain was damaged in the godowns of government owned agency which is responsible for procurement and distribution of foodgrains across the country.

The FCI informed that 1.83 lakh tonnes of wheat, 3.95 lakh tonnes of rice, 22 thousand tonnes of paddy and 110 tonnes of maize were damaged between 1997 to 2007.

The FCI said in the northern region -- UP, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi -- the damage incurred was seven lakh tonnes and the PSU spent Rs 87.15 crore to prevent the loss besides spending over Rs 60 lakh to dispose off the damaged foodgrain.

Keeping in view the amount of money spent by the FCI for preservation of foodgrains in its godown, the quantum of damage is huge. Is it not a national shame?" the RTI applicant Dev Ashish Bhattacharya said.

Similarly in eastern India -- Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal -- the damage incurred was 1.5 tonnes of foodgrains while the FCI spent Rs 122 crore to prevent it from rotting. But the damaged lot was disposed off after spending another Rs 1.65 crore.

In southern region -- Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala-- the damage incurred was 43,069.023 tonnes despite spending Rs 25 crore. This damaged foodgrain was disposed off after spending another Rs 34,867.

While damage in Maharashtra and Gujarat mounted to 73,814 tonnes, the FCI spent Rs 2.78 crore to prevent the loss. However, this lot was also disposed off later at a cost of Rs 24 lakh.

In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the damage incurred was 23,323.57 tonnes of foodgrains and the amount spent to stop the damage was Rs 5.5 crore.

The story was no different from other go-downs as the FCI spent Rs 10.64 lakh for disposing damaged foodgrains.

"The data given by FCI seems manipulated. In case of Jharkhand, the foodgrain damage is 3,699 tonnes which is comparatively low than other states. But the money spent to dispose off the damage is Rs 1.4 crore, which is high when compared to the other states," Dev Ashish said.