Govt to pay FCI Rs 17,700 crore of dues

NEW DELHI: Government will pay Rs 17,700 crore of outstanding dues to Food Corporation of India (FCI) for supplying foodgrains under welfare schemes.

The dues, comprising Rs 10,300 crore of principal and interest thereon as on May 31, 2007, will be paid through supplementary budgetary provisions in the revised estimates of this year and that of 2008-09, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here.

The decision to liquidate the outstanding dues to FCI for giving foodgrains to the Rural Development Ministry to be supplied under Sampurna Grameen Rozgar Yojna and National Food for Work Programme was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs here on Thursday.

CCEA, however, did not specify the mode of payment whether it would be through bonds or other route.

"That (mode of payment) has not been decided. We have resolved the amount now and that is Rs 10,300 crore of principal and interest thereon," Chidambaram said.

The CCEA also decided that the Rural Development Ministry from now on will be given sufficient funds to get foodgrains for supply to welfare measures, an official spokesman said later.