Chandigarh, April 22: In the wake of Novel Coronavirus pandemic, Punjab State is playing a vital role for ensuring food security to the people of the country during the nationwide lockdown.
Disclosing this here today Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Minister Punjab, Mr. Bharat Bhushan Ashu said that to meet the needs of people of the country in this hour of crisis, 1.25 lakh metric tonnes of rice and wheat have been shipped today through 50 special freight trains which contains 102500 metric tonnes of rice and 22500 metric tonnes of wheat from the warehouses of state located in different parts of Punjab.
He said since the beginning of the lockdown, Punjab had moved 759 special trains and 13.5 LMT rice and 5.47 LMT wheat to the rest of the country
While applauding CMD FCI Mr. D. V. Prasad for giving Special trains to Punjab Mr. Ashu said that this will not only give food security to the needy people in country but also solve the problem of rice storage in the state .
He said that by July 2020, 38 lakh metric tonnes of rice would be stored in the rice godowns of Punjab.
Mr Ashu said that during the loading of food grains on special trains, directions of health department to tackle with Covid 19 were strictly complied with.
