Wastage of food grains reduced,

The quantity of wastage of food grains in Food Corporation of India (FCI) was reduced to 3,115 tons in 2015-16, compared to 18,847 tons in the previous year, Parliament was told on Friday.

In year 2013-14, the wastage was accounted for 24,695 tons, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution C.R. Chaudhary told the Rajya Sabha on Friday in a written reply.

"Government has enough stocks of food grains to meet the demands of the Public Distribution System (PDS) and other welfare schemes," he said, adding that the stock of food grains in the Central Pool was in surplus amount.

It is about 213 lakh tons for wheat as on October 1, which is over 18 lakh tons above the stocking norms of 195 lakh tons.

For rice, the stock was over 158 lakh tons, which was about 46 lakh tons above the stocking norms of 112 lakh tons.

The storage capacity in the Central Pool is about 783 lakh tons.

--IANS

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