The Government today said there had been no mismanagement in maintaining buffer stocks of wheat and rice as only a meagre quantity of foodgrains got damaged last fiscal in the FCI storages. It also said the prices of these two key grains have been stable in the past year.
“There has been no mismanagement and carelessness in maintaining the wheat and rice buffer stocks,” the Food and Consumer Affairs Minister, Mr K.V. Thomas, said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
It is evident from the stock of wheat and rice being 199.52 lakh tonnes and 333.50 lakh tonnes respectively, as on April 1, 2012, he said.
This is against the buffer norms of 70 lakh tonnes for wheat and 142 lakh tonnes for rice, Mr Thomas said. Further, the Minister said the prices of these two key foodgrains have been almost stable between April 2011 and April 2012.