House panel favours monthly review of buffer norms

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has rapped the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for its ���mismanagement of food stocks��� and recommended that both FCI and the food ministry should upgrade technology to review buffer norms on a monthly basis. ���The committee have found the handling of buffer stock by the FCI a typical case of mismanagement of food stocks,��� an official statement said here on Wednesday.

���The committee has recommended that FCI/ministry should go in for an intensive technological upgrade for the purpose of reviewing the buffer stock norms on a monthly basis instead of the existing quarterly system.���

Pointing out that faulty management of buffer norms may lead to a food crisis, it suggested that the FCI and food ministry take inputs from quarters such as the economic survey, Planning Commission, the ministries of finance and agriculture while fixing buffer norms. The panel has also focused on ���lack of co-ordination amongst the government/FCI and the state governments in respect of procurement, allocation and export���.