NEW DELHI: The actual stock of wheat and rice with the state-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) on January 1 was almost two and a half times of the stocking norm to meet the requirement, food ministry told Lok Sabha on Tuesday. In a written reply, Union food and consumer affairs minister Piyush Goyal said the actual stock of wheat and rice was approximately 52.3 million tonnes compared to the stocking norm of 21.4 million tonnes as on January 1.
The increased stockpile of foodgrains has been a concern for the FCI despite the huge quantity of stock released during the Covid lockdown when additional 5kg were allowed to beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act and to a large number of migrant workers who did not have ration cards. “Had that quantity not been lifted, we would have been left with little space to keep the current procurement of foodgrains. There was some relief. But now again we have huge stock,” said an official.
In response to another question, he said there has been minor loss of the foodgrains stocked by the FCI.