FCI plans to import rice from Myanmar for northeast

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) may soon import rice from Myanmar to India's northeastern states, an official said here Monday.

Pinuel Basumatary, FCI executive director for northeast, told the media that the import of rice from Myanmar will help meet the requirement in the public distribution system (PDS) in Mizoram and Manipur.

The proposal to import rice was mooted due to transportation bottlenecks in the hilly northeast region, and particularly due to the conversion of the metre-gauge section of the Lumding division of the Northeast Frontier Railway from Lumding to Badarpur.

The gauge conversion work - that began in October and is scheduled to take six months - has affected train services to Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram and Barak Valley in Assam.

"Efforts are on to import rice from Myanmar and, if it succeeds, it will be easier to supply rice to Mizoram and Manipur. The plan is to import about 100,000 tonnes of rice for both the states in five months' time," Basumatary said.

The FCI recently ferried 10,000 tonnes of rice in two phases from Andhra Pradesh to Tripura via Bangladesh and talks are also on to ferry 35,000 tonnes more rice.

The FCI is planning an additional storage capacity in the northeast region, he said.

While the FCI's present storage capacity in the region is 4,97,000 tonnes, it would be enhanced by another 5,19,000 tonnes soon.