Cuttack: Absolute, ravaging hunger has driven slum dwellers in Odisha to dig up wasted food grain by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and eat it for their survival. The 1,206 bags of PDS rice belonging to the FCI were supposed to feed empty stomachs. Instead, they lay rotting in Cuttack's railway goods shed for the last nine months, stuck in a red-tape tussle between the railways and the FCI over storage issues.
Finally on Wednesday, the Railways buried the 1,206 bags of rice near Cuttack.
Surprisingly, a significant amount of the rice was apparently in good condition and though the poor locals pleaded the authorities, they were not allowed to take away the rice.
"We saw that the rice was in good condition. So we wanted to take it home. I don't understand why they dumped this rice here. They could have distributed it to us. When they were dumping it, we asked them to give it to us but they refused," said a local resident....
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06:28 AM, Aug 12, 2012
