On the infamous rice scam, the Food Corporation of India said that the complaint has been made against the state government and the FCI can therefore not comment on the issue.
The issue of diversion of rice meant for the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme came to the fore in 2021 after Assam police seized tens of thousands of sacks of rice from a private warehouse that belonged to Meghalaya and which had been meant for the ICDS programme.
“These are stocks in the open market. We release the stocks to the state government from our godowns and after that it is totally 100 percent the domain of the state government to move those stocks to their own storage places or to the ration card holder,” FCI General Manager SK Yadav said today.
Stating that the FCI has no role after the stocks are lifted by the state government under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), he said that the High Court has taken cognizance and the complaint is against the state government and not against the FCI.
“As of now, I have not received any such complaint and I again invite you if you have a specific complaint you please share with the state government who is mainly responsible for handling the PDS (Public Distribution System),” he added.
