Enough food grain stock available in country to meet requirements: Centre

NEW DELHI: The government said Sunday that there is sufficient food grain stock available in the country and the prices of wheat, atta and rice are under control.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said the government regularly monitors the prices of essential commodities and takes corrective measures whenever required.

The government has extended the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) for three months till December 2022 to ensure that the poor and needy do not face any hardships during the festival season.

The ministry said that wheat and rice reported a decrease in retail and wholesale prices and the prices of atta remained stable during last week.

The government said it had taken proactive steps to avoid any further price rise and export regulations were imposed in the case of wheat and rice.

It added that prices of wheat and rice had gone up more or less, corresponding to the minimum support prices (MSP) increase during the past 2-3 years. During the 2021-22 fiscal, prices were comparatively lower because about 80 lakh metric tonnes of food grains were offloaded in the open market through an open market sale scheme to contain the prices.