Ration shops in remote areas to have grain storage facilities

In a modest step to usher in food security in remote and tribal areas and vacate storage space in Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns, ration shops in backward regions, tribal areas and hilly and inaccessible areas would soon double as mini-godowns and storage houses.

The food ministry has prepared a scheme for creating fair price shops-cum-godowns in the 12th five-year Plan. Budget 2012-13 had made an interim allocation of Rs 2 crore for the programme. The estimated outlay for the programme during the 12th Plan is Rs 506.2 crore.

These ration shops would have the facility to store three months’ foodgrain stock to be distributed through the Public Distribution System (PDS). This would also be distributed to beneficiaries under the Antodyaya Anna Yojana.

Currently, most rations shops across the country do not have facilities to store grains and other items for long durations. This leads to shortage of foodgrains, especially in remote, tribal and inaccessible hilly areas.

The PDS is operated through a network of about 500,000 ration shops across the country.

“The central government would provide financial assistance of up to 50 per cent of the cost of constructing such ration shops-cum-godowns, up to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh, while the remaining would be contributed by the state government,” said an official. Under the PDS, the central government is responsible for transporting grains to the nearest FCI godowns, while states are responsible for collecting and transporting these from the godowns to ration shops.

The ration shop-cum-godown scheme has also been endorsed by a Planning Commission working group, constituted to devise ways to streamline storage and PDS operations.

The official said initially, such dual-purpose shops would be allowed only in specific areas, but depending on the success of the scheme, it could be expanded to cover the entire country.

“Cooperatives, self-help groups and other community-based organisations would be given preference in running such shops,” he said, adding assistance could also be given to existing rations shop owners if they wished to expand their business to include storage facilities as well.

The state government would be responsible for determining the procedure for constructing these facilities and working out details of the use and functioning of such shops.

India’s foodgrain storage woes compounded in the last few years, following record harvests of wheat and rice. These were also aided by a massive surge in government purchases. As on April 1, the government’s stock of grains stood at about 53 million tones, about 152 per cent higher than the required quantity.

Though government annually allocates about 55-56 million tonnes of grains for distribution through the PDS, inadequate storage facilities often lead to diversion and damage of grains.