Rice stock will hardly last one month: Official
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 17 2024: The existing stock of FCI rice will hardly last one month in the valley districts while it may last two months at the most in the hill districts.

Rice stocks in FCI's food storage depots have depleted severely following disruption on transportation due to frequent landslides on National highways and prohibition by an armed group on loading and unloading of rice.

FCI has food storage depots at Sangaiprou, Thoubal, Bishnupur, Sawombung, Jiribam, Senapati, Ukhrul, Tamenglong and Churachandpur.

Sangaiprou depot at present has 3289 metric tonnes of rice against its storage capacity of 15,660 MT, said one FCI official.

Bishnupur depot has 2019 MT of rice against storage capacity of 5568 MT and Thoubal has 172 MT against storage capacity of 3132 MT.

Whereas there is not a single grain of rice at Sawombung depot which has storage capacity of 12528 MT, Jiribam depot has 6728 MT of rice in excess of its storage capacity 6264 MT, said the official.

Senapati and Ukhrul depots have 3489 MT and 3378 MT of rice and this would last around three/four months.

Tamenglong depot has 1780 MT which would last for 7/8 months while Churachandpur depot has one month's requirement of rice which is 1047 MT.

The State's FCI rice is transported along Imphal-Jiribam highway and Imphal-Dimapur highway but for Churachandpur, the foodgrain is brought through Mizoram.

On the authority's failure to stock adequate quantity of rice at the FCI food storage depots, the official said that an alternative route identified by the Government of Nagaland for transportation of FCI rice to Manipur after Imphal-Dimapur highway was blocked by landslides was also closed to heavy vehicles by local people.

The local people argued that the road was too small for movement of FCI trucks.

Moreover, there was another prohibition on loading FCI rice, said the official.

The railway track between Jiribam and Khongshang was also affected by landslides in August but it has not been fully repaired till date.

As a result, movement of trains on the track remains suspended.

Moreover, an armed group has been imposing a ban on loading and unloading of rice thereby disrupting transportation of FCI rice.

There is 21904 MT of rice in stock for the whole State and this will last around two months.

However, if calculated for the valley districts alone, the existing stock of 5480 MT can hardly last one month, the official said before appealing to all sections of people to cooperate with the authority in making up for the shortfalls in FCI rice transportation.

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