Centre gives Tamil Nadu, Puducherry Rs 5,585 crore worth foodgrain

CHENNAI: The Centre has allocated foodgrain worth Rs 5,585 crore for free distribution under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) and Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package, in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, since April.
Following an announcement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi extending the PMGKAY, a crucial scheme to benefit the poor during the pandemic, up to November, the Food Corporation of India is all set to issue 9.1lakh tonne of rice free of cost to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for the next five months.“As against the capacity of 14.16 lakh tonne, we have 90% capacity utilisation now. This stock is enough to meet the needs for the next five months,” FCI (Tamil Nadu) general manager J S Syju told TOI. PMGKAY entitles each family to get a free ration of five kg rice per person a month for the next five months. At least 35,734 tonnes of free rice were provided to the state for supply among migrant workers and non-card holders in May and June under Atma Nirbhar Scheme.
After the scheme was rolled out in April, the FCI had supplied 5.44 lakh tonnes to 3.63 crore beneficiaries in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The entire operation starting from the price of the grain paid to farmers till payment of commission to the fair price shops is borne by the Union government, without any fiscal burden on the state exchequer. Syju said the FCI achieved the targeted supply by inducting 442 train loads of rice from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha during the lockdown period.