FCI ensures uninterrupted food supply in Karnataka amid COVID-19 lockdown

Food Corporation of India (FCI) has been working tirelessly to ensure the continuous supply of food grains to Karnataka amid the nationwide lockdown imposed to control the spread of the coronavirus.

DV Prasad, Chairman and Managing Director, FCI,said that the Food Corporation has a total stock of 538.19 LMT food grains -- 301.73 LMTs of rice and 236.46 LMTs of wheat.

"So far, during the lockdown period, FCI has moved a record 17.56 LMTs of rice and 8.46 LMTs of wheat, totalling more than 26 LMTs from surplus to consuming States across the country through 929 train loads."

He added that since the first day of lockdown, FCI has supplied nearly 2.44 LMTs of foodgrains through 87 train loads into the state alone.

According to the Information and Public Relations Department of Karnataka, FCI has provided five kilograms of additional rice to as many as 4 crore beneficiaries each under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) as of Saturday. It also said that FCI will continue to send extra foodgrains for the next three months to all the ration cards holder in the state. To ensure smooth distribution of foodgrains, the FCI has hired 3,000 labourers and field staff to supply food grains across Karnataka.

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FCI moved 2.2 million tonnes of foodgrains across country

According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, the FCI has moved 2.2 Million tonnes from the surplus states since the beginning of lockdown and has handed over about 1 million tonnes of food grains to the state governments under the PMGKAY scheme.

Further, the corporation has also delivered about 3.2 million tonnes of food grains to state governments to meet the requirements under regular NFSA allocation. 

FCI has a network of more than 2000 godowns in the country and such a large network of godowns will ensure smooth supply of food grains to these organisations in this hour of crisis. It will help relief camps in their philanthropic work of feeding poor and migrant workers in the country. 

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