Centre allocates extra 4,000 tonne of wheat, rice to U'Khand

New Delhi, June 25: The Centre has allocated an additional 4,000 tonnes of wheat and rice for relief measures in flood affected Uttarakhand.

The death toll has mounted to 822 after torrential rains on June 15-16 led to flash floods in Uttarakhand, leaving large numbers of travellers and pilgrims stranded at different locations in the state.

A senior official from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) said, "We have received an order from food ministry to allocate an additional 2,000 tonnes of wheat and rice each to Uttarakhand at an economic cost".

The economic cost means the minimum support price (MSP) plus other charges incurred during procurement and storage. Currently, the economic cost of wheat is around Rs 19 per kg and that of rice Rs 24-25 per kg.

The Uttarakhand government has been told to lift the additional allocation in the next 50 days, the official said. The state government has been asked to make arrangements for distribution of foodgrains in the affected areas.

Last week, Food Minister KV Thomas had said that the Centre would allocate more foodgrains to flood-hit Uttarakhand to provide relief to affected people. "We have enough stock of foodgrains in our godowns. We are taking measures to allocate more quantity of foodgrains to flood-affected Uttarakhand," Thomas had said.

PTI