PDS item wastage 'OK' up to 1 pc
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, May 14 2013: According to the guidelines set by the Government of India and Government of Manipur, Public Distribution System (PDS) items like rice, sugar, SK Oil etc may go waste without being distributed to the public up to one per cent.

Official sources informed that the Government of India as well as the Government of Manipur have drawn up a guideline which said that not more than one per cent of the allocated PDS items should go waste even if the same items could not be distributed to public because of one reason or another.

For SK Oil, the limit of wastage as set by the Government of India and Govt of Manipur is three per cent.

From 1995-96 to 2011-12, CAF&PD Department received 136,07,308 quintals of rice from FCI.

Out of these, 6210 quintals got rotten and wasted.

Monetary value of the wasted rice is Rs 39,00122 .

Rotten food grains spilling out

Percentage of the wastage compared to the total quantity of rice received during the said period is 0.29 per cent approximately.

This is much below the wastage limit set by the Government of India and the State Government.

During the same period, 1345.42 quintals of sugar got wasted and its value was Rs 16,93956.75 .

Between 1995-96 and 2000-01, 515.72 quintals of sugar worth Rs 5,87,433 got wasted.

The corresponding figures for the period 2001-02 to 2011-12 were 829.70 quintals and Rs 1106534 .

Percentage of sugar wasted between 1995-96 and 2001-02 is 0.09 per cent.

The corresponding figure for 2001-02 to 2011-12 is 0.26 per cent.

These figures are below the wastage limit set by the Government.

Rice and sugar which got wasted without being distributed to the public can be easily recuperated from the administrative charge, informed the sources.

As for SK oil, extra three per cent is added by the State Government when district-wise and dealer-wise allocations are made in accordance to the monthly allocation made by the Government of India.

As permitted by the Government of India and the State Government, one percent of rice and sugar received by CAF&PD Department may be disposed by the Government.

Yet, the department has never disposed rice or sugar up to one per cent.

The quantity of rice which got wasted was higher than normal between 1995-96 and 2011-12 because the URS variety of rice given earlier was of very low grade.

Now the department is receiving rice of much higher grade.

As such, the quantity of rice which may go wasted this year would not cross 0.001 per cent, the sources added.