"We had a long-term plan to deliver foodgrain at the door step to the ration cardholders through the Public Distribution System and the construction of 135 godowns in 28 districts is a step forward in this direction," Food and Consumer Protection Minister Shyam Rajak told reporters after inaugurating the godowns through remote control.
In addition, 211 more godowns with storage capacity ranging from 500 to 1,000 MT with storage capacity of 2.18 lakh MT will be built this fiscal at an estimated cost of Rs 169.27 crore, he said and rued that the state has storage capacity of only 4.35 lakh MT as against requirement for 14.78 lakh MT.
Stating that the state government under the leadership of the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was committed to ensuring food security to 1.65 crore families, Rajak said that additional foodgrains will be purchased to meet the requirement in addition to allotment of the same by the centre.
The Food and Consumer Protection Minister said that that the state government has lifted 90 and 92 per cent of foodgrains allotted to it by the Centre under the BPL and Antodaya schemes respectively in 2011-12.
