FCI furnishes details of PMGKAY rice allocation in Manipur

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jul 5: Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), the Government of India allocated rice through State Government and rice are being provided to the people of Manipur in order to alleviate the hardships faced by the poor due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The above statement was made by Gongreipou Kamei, Deputy General Manager (DGM) of Food Corporation of India (FCI), Manipur region today while speaking to media persons during a press meet held at his office at Old Assembly Complex.
He said that the Government of India allocated additional foodgrains free of cost and provided 5 kg per person per month to all beneficiaries covered under NFSA for the initial period of April to June 2020 under PMGKAY which is over and above NFSA allocation.
The scheme was further extended from July to November 2020 and FCI released 98526 MT rice to the Government of Manipur for implementation of the scheme during 2020 which benefited 2.01 lakh persons under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and 22.66 lakh persons under Priority Household (PHH) in the State, he added.
He continued that in view of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Government extended the PMGKAY to all beneficiaries covered under NFSA for the months of May-June, 2021 at 5kg per person per month and the  allocations for the two months was 18602 MT which has been fully lifted by the State Government on June 10 and it has benefited 18,60,159 persons (AAY-1,76,699 and PHH-16,83,460).
It may be noted that PMGKAY has been further extended from July to November this year and the total allocation of free rice for Manipur for the five months is 46504 MT worth Rs 139,512,000 at an estimated rate of Rs 300 per quintal.
The DGM informed that the Government of India will bear the entire cost on account of distribution of foodgrain under PMGKAY including food subsidy, intra-state transportation and dealer's margin/additional dealer's margin without any sharing by State Government.
He continued that FCI has enhanced movement of stocks during the pandemic and despite lockdowns to meet the additional foodgrain requirements of the State for implementation of PMGKAY and rice are transported from procurement regions of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to Manipur through Dimapur and Jiribam Railheads.
He maintained that FCI Manipur has a total storage capacity of 62812 MT which is sufficient to store six months allocations under NFSA and at present, 56336 MT rice are available in various FCI godowns in the State.
He further informed that the number of beneficiaries under NFSA has decreased since April this year and consequently, allocation of foodgrains has also reduced due to non-linking of Ration card with Aadhar and the beneficiaries whose ration cards are linked with Aadhar may draw ration from any e-PoS operated Fair Price Shops (FPS) any where in the country under One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC).
Divisional Manager of FCI, Divisional Office, Rajesh Verma was also present in the press meet.