Warehouses in Odisha running out of space as FCI slows down lifting rice

In a petition to Union Minister Food and Civil Supplies Minister Piyush Goyal, BJD MPs said the FCI needs to evacuate 30 lakh tonnes of rice from the state's warehouses, but till March 13 it has evacuated only 6.65 lakh tonnes of rice.

Published on: Mar 15, 2021, 23:33:53 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty, Hindustan Times, Bhubaneswar

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

A delegation of BJD MPs on Monday requested Union Food and Civil Supplies Minister Piyush Goyal to ask the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to pick up more rice from Odisha’s warehouses which are running out of space to store the foodgrain procured from farmers of the state.

An Indian laborer carries a rice bag after they were unloaded from trains to store at a Food Corporation of India (FCI) warehouse during lockdown. (AP)

The MPs said FCI needs to evacuate 30 lakh tonnes of rice from the state's warehouses, but till March 13 it has evacuated only 6.65 lakh tonnes of rice.

"The movement plan for the month of March 2021 has been reduced substantially. At this pace, the surplus 30 lakh of rice cannot be evacuated by the start of the next kharif marketing season or till the start of the next calendar year which will greatly hamper the ensuing Rabi procurement and the next Kharif procurement. If like previous years, FCI lifts only 17 lakh tonnes of rice then 13 lakh tonnes of rice will be left with Odisha. Long storage of rice will lead to discolouration and even FCI will then not accept it. Loss of 1 lakh tonnes of rice due to deterioration in quality would mean a loss of about Rs. 320 crore and the state would lose ₹4160 crore this way," the MPs said in their petition.

The MPs told Goyal that Odisha's own consumption under PDS and other welfare schemes currently comes to around 24 lakh tonnes of rice and supplying the extra rice under NFSA/SFSS to people of the state will be unethical.

In the ensuing kharif marketing season, Odisha has procured nearly 61 lakh tonnes of paddy from farmers, an all time record. "As the growth in the number of farmers selling paddy to the government has gone up, more farmers have benefitted from MSP payment. If the surplus rice is not evacuated, then the paddy procurement by rice millers would come to a halt," the MPs said.

The BJD MPs also requested Goyal to release the subsidy due to Odisha over decentralised procurement system.

Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation which is the nodal agency for paddy procurement in Odisha, has so far pending subsidy dues of Rs. 5,616 crore. While the central subsidy is yet to be released, the state-run corporation has borrowed Rs. 19,000 crore to clear the dues of farmers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.