In a country where millions go hungry every day and where food prices are breaking the back of the common man, a bumper harvest is rotting in godowns. Headlines Today correspondents across the country found the shocking truth. Instead of trying to solve the problem, the government plans to increase procurement and has also disallowed exports to meet the projected requirement of grain under the proposed Food Security Act. Estimates are that food grain production including wheat, rice, pulses and coarse cereals will go up to a record 235.88 million tones this year compared to the earlier record of 234.47 million tones in 2008-09.

Hundreds of tones of wheat and rice are rotting in godowns across the nation - the reason being there is simply no space. So, while paddy sacks are dumped inside classrooms in Andhra Pradesh, wheat is left to rot on the roadside in Kurkshetra and sacks can be seen lining up parking lots of residential areas in the fertile wheat belt of Punjab and Haryana.

The current storage capacity is 62.8 million tones, which is proving inadequate. India had record rice and wheat stocks of 65.6 million tones in its godowns in early June. Officials say the problem will only get worse after the kharif harvest arrives by September-October.

Madhya Pradesh, which has seen a huge increase in procurement lately, faces big problems. Forty-nine lakh metric ton of wheat was procured this year too despite the fact that over five lakh metric tons of wheat was already there in the godowns. Now, over 18 lakh metric tons of grain are lying out in the open at the mercy of the weather Gods.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan said, "The food grains will rot soon. I have spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh."

The bumper rot is in spite of the Supreme Court's 2010 directive to the Centre to ensure free distribution of food grains to the hungry poor of the country instead of allowing it to rot in the FCI godowns.

Blame game

With the government clearly unequipped to deal with the grim situation, states and the Centre are now busy in a blame game while the grain is not made available to those who need it - a starving population, BPL families or cattle.

A bumper crop in states like Punjab, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh has become a bane.

Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Badal says, "We can't do anything. It's the decision of the government of India. It's been two years...we saw the crisis coming. The government of India would be responsible for this crisis."

There may be still time to salvage the situation if the states and the central government were to take corrective measures together.

The Union Food Minister has charged the Bihar government of not lifting additional grain allotted to the state by the Centre.

In Patna's Phulwarisharif, Headlines Today cameras recorded an FCI godown complex overflowing with grain. Stored in the open, the monsoon is raining havoc on the stock.

The state government has lashed out against New Delhi for not issuing any real help. Food and Civil Supplies Minister Shyam Rajak says, "We need warehousing facilities to store 12 lakh metric tons of grain, but the present capacity is only half of that. There is no assistance to remove rotting grains either. We have written to Minister for Food & Public Distribution K.V. Thomas and he promised to help us, but all that was just lip service."

In MP, Chauhan said, “So much wheat has been bought by the government, but there is no place to store it. This was not anticipated even though by and large, the purchase was done by the agencies of MP government. We requested the government of India repeatedly to take the wheat, but they didn't, which has caused a lot of problems for us.”

A lot of damage is already done and by the time the state government and the central government decide on a plan of action, all may be lost.

'Distribute the food'

Former FCI CMD Alok Sinha told Headlines Today, "The inflow-outflow management of the FCI is not good. I don't know what is government's plan is. But we should either export the food grain or go to common man with the Food Security Act."

"Even if a small amount of food grain is wasted, this is nothing short of criminal. Instead of letting it rot, we should export it. Why are we not investing in a world-class storage facility?" political analyst Paranjoy Guha Thakurtha asked.

"The finance ministry did nothing to prop up the storage facility," agriculture scientist Devender Sharma told Headlines Today.

On being asked why the FCI is not distributing the food grains among the poor, Sinha said it is only the custodian and someone has to tell it. The government has to take a decision, he added.

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