No incidence of poor quality rice till date, says Nagaland official

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Sep. 29 (EMN): No incidence of poor quality food grains have been reported at the Food Corporation of India (FCI) – Food Storage Depot (FSD) at Phesama in Kohima till date, according to an official.

Technical assistant, Diethovonuo, who ensures quality control of food grains issued by the FSD, told Eastern Mirror that all grains have been found to be up to the desired specification till date.

The official said after dispatch from FSD Dimapur, she collects samples to test the quality of rice before issuing it.

Prior to dispatch, FSD Dimapur also ensures the quality before sending it, and if sub-standard food grains are detected, they are resent to Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, from where they have been originally dispatched.

She also informed that Fortified Rice Kernel (FRK) for the mid-day meal contains iron, folic acid and vitamins, and a kilogram of FRK is mixed with 100 kg of normal rice. However, people often mistake FRK with normal rice and allege that it is ‘plastic rice’.

The food grains are also issued to the Food and Civil Supply (F&CS) department after joint verification and certification of the grains, along with the supply inspectors from the state government.

Clarifying about adulteration and other allegations, officials at FSD Phesama, stated that after issuing the grains to the F&CS department, FCI is not responsible for the distribution of the food grains to the targeted beneficiaries other than storage.

Storage capacity upto 5742 MT

Meanwhile, the FSD at Phesama has a capacity of 5742 MT stored in three sheds, according to depot in-charge, Vijay Kant.

Kant said that a total of 1566.351 MT were received from FSD Dimapur last month and 1854.333 MT was issued from FSD Phesama.

He maintained that they issue food grains for National Food Security Act (NFSA)/ Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), F&CS department, directorate of School Education for mid-day meals and the defence services.

He added that the FSD Phesama on an average receives 120- 150 trucks on a monthly basis.

Meanwhile, H Lhouvum, depot assistant, informed that the godown has three varieties of rice — Rice Raw Common (RRC), Rice Grade-A (RRA) and Fortified Rice Kernel (FRK), meant for the mid-day meal for school children.

FSD Phesama has four staff– depot in-charge, two depot assistants and a technical assistant — and is guarded by five security personnel from Nagaland Armed Police (NAP) – Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB).

Kant further informed that there is sufficient human resource power as the loading and unloading work is leased out to a separate labour contractor through a tender system from the regional office for a period of two years.

He added that FCI-FSD Phesama is one of six godowns in Nagaland, wherein five is owned by FCI and one hired by Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC).