Over 25k sacks of paddy damaged at FCI centre

More than 25,000 sacks of paddy allegedly kept in open for last five months were damaged due to recent rainfall, at a Food Corporation of India (FCI) procurement centre in Palamu, officials said on Saturday. This comes a day after 50,000 quintals of wheat of FCI was damaged due to rain in Bokaro.

Confirming the development, FCI godown manager Shyamlal Oraon, however, attributed the loss to not having their own godown in the area. “FCI has no godown in the area. The damage could have been averted if there was a godown. Besides, delay in dispatching the procured paddy to millers also led to this situation.”

As per available information, the FCI kept the stock of paddy procured from farmers in a playground and parts of a dilapidated building at Satbarwa block headquarters for more than five months. The damaged paddy also started germinating out of the bags after direct exposure to water and sunlight.

According to the workers involved in weighing and storing paddy, more than 25,000 quintals of paddy was affected.

A Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader and farmer Ashish Sinha said, “Due to lackadaisical attitude of officials, the FCI has incurred a huge loss running into crores. They kept the procured paddy under the open sky for more than five months and did nothing to guard it against the weather forecast.”

He added, “The paddy stored in bags has already germinated. There is waterlogging all around the stock. Hundreds of bags are buried in water.If the authorities concerned ensured timely dispatch or stored the paddy in a godown, the loss could have been averted.”