Vijayawada: Food Corporation of India distributes 5.23 lakh tonnes of free rice in Andhra Pradesh

Vijayawada : Food Corporation of India (FCI), Vijayawada Region DGM Jayaprasad informed that FCI Andhra Pradesh has distributed 5,23,877 MTs of free rice in the State under PMGKY and added that fortified rice has been distributed to 17 lakh children under the MDM scheme and to 55,607 Anganwadi Centres under Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme for the year 2021-2022 in AP.

In response to the call given by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Govt of India to publicise various initiatives taken by FCI to tackle TPDS and malnutrition-related issues, a press conference was conducted at FCI, Tadepalli office premises on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion, DGM Jayaprasad informed that the FCI Andhra Pradesh, functioning with 24 field depots including A&N Islands, had an earlier storage capacity of 7,00,466 MTs. It was enhanced to 8,71,082 MTs after reassessment of the storage capacity. Out of 24 depots, Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) inspection was completed for all 24 depots. As many as 21 depots have been certified by WDRA and the remaining are due for certification. After upgrading various standards at the depots, 11 depots were awarded 5+ Quality Council of India (QCI) star ratings, and 13 depots are awarded 5-star ratings. So, overall, 24 depots are awarded with QCI star ratings, he added.

DGM Jayaprasad further said that FCI, AP, has played a commendable role in supplying food grains to other southern states, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, North-eastern states, and West Bengal, during the pandemic. FCI, AP Region has been transporting food grains from Kakinada/Vizag Port to l6 PDCs of A&N Islands, Port Blair through Multi-Modal Transport Contract (MMTC) to meet the requirement under various schemes such as NFSA, PMGKY, and other welfare schemes, he added.