New Delhi, In order to distribute 1 kg of pulses to about 20 crore households for three months in the country, a massive operation for transporting and milling of pulses is underway, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said on Saturday.

The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), under the guidance of the Department of Consumer Affairs, which holds sufficient stocks of pulses, is carrying out this operation that entails lifting of un-milled pulses from the godowns of Central/state warehousing corporations, getting the pulses milled or cleaned as per quality standards prescribed by the FSSAI and then transporting the milled pulses to the states.

The government has announced to provide 1 kg of processed pulses to each NFSA household for three months under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) for which 5.88 lakh MT of milled pulses is required.

The milled pulses are carried to the state government godowns and then to the PDS shops for distribution.

The millers are selected on the basis of Out Turn Ratio (OTR) bids by NAFED through online auctions. In OTR bidding, empanelled millers are required to quote percentage of milled pulses for every quintal of raw pulse considering the expenses involved in cleaning, milling, packing and transporting, both inward and outward. Packing is done in 50 kg bags. No milling charges are paid to the millers.

In the producing states, locally available raw materials and millers are preferred. All costs in distribution, including incidental charges to ration shops, are borne by the Central government.

The scale of this operation is massive and far more complex than food grain movement. Each kg of pulse goes through at least three (in many cases four) trips by truck. While for long distances, the transportation is done through goods trains, but in most cases, transportation is done by road in trucks.

Each month, 1.96 lakh MT of pulses are required to be distributed to NFSA households in the country through rations shops.