CHANDIGARH, July 27, 2020: On the directives of the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, the Food & Civil Supplies Department has worked day and night to dispatch 2831 rakes loaded with 27.09 lakh Metric Tonnes of Wheat and 52.44 lakh Metric Tonnes of rice to various parts of the country to feed the poor & needy in these trying circumstances due to lockdown amid COVID-19.
Living up to its reputation of being the Food Bowl of India, Punjab has been silently assisting all the States in accomplishing this gigantic task while the nation battles the corona virus and struggles with the herculean challenge of feeding its citizens.
Disclosing this here today, Food & Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu said that ever since the lockdown was enforced in the country Punjab has dispatched 2831 rakes of food grains thereby transferring nearly 84. 03 lakh Metric tonnes of wheat and rice to different parts of the country through 2831 special trains since 24th March. This is providing much needed assistance to the States to distribute food grains amongst the disadvantaged sections of the society, he added.
He further said that apart from this 4.8 lakh metric tonnes food grain dispatched to other states through road movement.