Grains for public distribution to be sent within India by sea
01 Aug 2014
The government has decided to transport foodgrains through sea route within the country as an alternate mode of transportation other than rail and road to the North East and Kerala.
This was stated by minister of state for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Raosaheb Patil Danve informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Thursday.
The minister said that from 15 January 2014, Food Corporation of India (FCI) has started transporting food grains from Andhra Pradesh to Kerala by sea.
He added 33,593 tonnes of foodgrain has been dispatched to various depots in Kerala till date.
He said that FCI has also taken steps to move 10,000 tonnes of foodgrains from Andhra Pradesh to Tripura via Ashuganj Port in Bangladesh, a part of the Indo-Bangla protocol route.
Movement of foodgrains on this route has commenced and the first ship has already sailed from Andhra Pradesh.