NEW DELHI: The government has enough foodgrain reserves to feed the poor amid the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Thursday.
State-run Food Corporation of India (FCI), the government's nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains under the Public Distribution System, is keeping a close watch on supply of subsidised grains to the ration-card holders, he added.
"FCI godowns has sufficient reserves to meet the demand and officials are keeping a close watch on distribution of foodgrains," Paswan said in a tweet.
Senior FCI officials have been asked to monitor the supply situation 24X7, he added. According to official data, the government currently has total 58.49 million tonnes of foodgrain in the FCI godowns.
Out of which, rice constitutes 30.97 million tonne and wheat 27.52 million tonne. The foodgrain stock, however, is much higher than the required norm of maintaining a reserve of about 21 million tonne as on April 1.