Centre to review Gujarat`s foodgrain offtake, storage

Senior officials from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution will make a visit to Gujarat to review the status of the off take of foodgrains allocated under the public distribution system (PDS) and safe storage of the procured foodgrains.

T S Randhawa, additional secretary in the ministry will make a visit to Gujarat along with Maharashtra and Goa over the next two-three weeks. The visit is a fallout of the directions from K V Thomas, minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution to take a review of the storage and off take of the foodgrain in the states.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ministry informed that during these special tours, the officials would also inspect godowns of FCI and other procurement agencies to review the storage management so that the quality control is maintained at any cost.

All officers of the rank of additional secretary and joint secretary have been allocated specific states and asked to review district-wise off take of allocation of foodgrains during their visits and ensure that over all off take position is improved immediately. The officials have also been directed to inspect distribution centres and to see that PDS foodgrains are easily available in all the part of the states.