Times of India: Thane: Tuesday,
April 08, 2014.
If claims
made by Thane resident Omprakash Sharma are to be believed, then foodgrains
sufficient to feed more than 4,000 persons across the state, were lost in
mishandling, transportation troubles or plain deterioration of the wheat and
rice stocks stored in the godowns of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in the
last three years.
This Thane
resident exercised the RTI Act to obtain data from the FCI about the damaged
food grains stock across 23 states over the last couple of years. The facts
sheet provided by the FCI for Maharashtra revealed, during 2010-2013, as much
as 108 tonnes of rice was declared non-usable, while 1,523 tonnes of the wheat
stock worth lakhs of rupees was rendered unfit for human consumption.
"In the
last three years, Maharashtra has reported a damage of 1,631 tonnes of wheat
and rice stocks in the FCI godowns. It is entirely the responsibility of the
FCI officials and the government to ensure that the priceless foodgrains are
stored properly to ensure minimal losses. This stock, now declared non-usable
by the FCI, could have been the meal of more than 4,000 persons, had the
authorities exercised caution in handling and storage," Sharma told TOI.
Sharma said
the tonnes of food stock wasted due to administrative apathy is too precious
considering that malnutrition and starvation deaths are common in our country.
"There are so many cases of malnutrition reported from urban cities like
Thane and Mumbai and on the other hand we have to throw away the food stocks
purely because of the misgovernance," Sharma said.
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