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The Government will spend Rs 450 crore in building intermediate godowns at the block level across the country for efficient and smooth distribution of foodgrains through the public distribution system (PDS) and plug leakages.
The construction of these godowns will be done under the rural employment guarantee scheme, MGNREGA.
The total storage capacity to be created at the end of first year would be 1.5 million tonnes, said Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh.
“After toilets and anganwadi kendras, we have decided to construct intermediary godowns for storage of PDS foodgrains under the MGNREGA,” Ramesh told reporters.
The average capacity of such godowns at the block level will be around 3,400 tonnes and foodgrain to meet three month’s requirement could be stored in them.
Schedule 1 of MGNREGA will be amended to include construction of intermediary godowns and guidelines will be issued in this regard soon, he said.
Intermediate godowns
Food Minister K.V. Thomas, said construction of such intermediate godowns will help plug leakages in the PDS, currently estimated at 25-30 per cent.
Currently, foodgrains are directly supplied from the Food Corporation of India depots to ration shops directly.
Under this new plan, the State Governments are required to provide land, while the Centre will bear the entire construction cost.
States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharasthra and Gujarat are expected to benefit maximum, Ramesh said.
>vishwanath.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in
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