Food Corporation of India to take advance payment for grain supplied for midday meal

NEW DELHI: Food Corporation of India ( FCI) from April next year will take advance payment for foodgrains it will supply for the mid-day meal scheme in schools to overcome delays in payments, Parliament was informed today.

The decision to introduce "pre-payment system" has been conveyed to the Ministry of Human Resource Development on September 9, 2014, so that it gets sufficient time to put in place the necessary mechanism.

Food Corporation of India (FCI) is the government's nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains through Public Distribution System (PDS) and other welfare schemes.

"Since FCI was facing difficulty in getting timely payments for foodgrains being supplied under Mid-Day Meal scheme and accumulated outstanding dues on this account was adding to the interest burden of FCI, it has been decided to introduce pre-payment system for foodgrains to be supplied by FCI under the scheme," Minister of State for Food Raosaheb Patil Danve said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

In order to give the HRD ministry sufficient time to put in place necessary financial and administrative arrangements for introducing the pre-payment system with effect from April 1, 2015, the decision has been conveyed to the HRD Ministry on September 9, 2014, he said.

"The decision is not likely to affect the implementation of the scheme in any manner, as similar arrangement is already in place for Targeted Public Distribution System (TDPS) and various welfare schemes, other tham MDM," Danve said.

The minister was replying to a query whether the ministry has decided to discontinue supply of foodgrains for Mid-Day Meal Scheme on credit.

HRD ministry allocates food grains to States/UTs under National Programme of Mid-Day Meal in Schools (MDMS).

Replying to another query, Danve informed that as on April 1, 2014, nearly Rs 50,000 crore was payable to FCI as arrears for the previous two fiscals.