This document summarizes the Indian government's response to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 4407 regarding the safety, hygiene, and quality control measures in Public Distribution System (PDS) warehouses, to be answered on August 20, 2025. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, represented by the Minister of State, Shrimati Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya, outlined the following:
a) To ensure effective preservation of foodgrains, the government procures foodgrains according to uniform specifications and stores them in scientifically built godowns, adhering to scientific storage practices. CCTV cameras and fire fighting equipment are installed in these godowns to ensure the safety of the stored foodgrains.
b) The government is implementing a pilot project involving smart warehousing technologies, including CCTV surveillance and Internet of Things (IoT) based sensors, to digitally monitor key parameters and create a seamless monitoring ecosystem within the PDS warehouse operations.
Key Entities Referenced
Public Distribution System: A government-managed system for distributing foodgrains to the public, particularly to those in need.
Department of Food and Public Distribution: The department under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution responsible for formulating specifications for foodgrain procurement.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution: The government ministry responsible for consumer affairs, food, and the public distribution system.
SHRI SURESH KUMAR KASHYAP: The Member of Parliament who raised the unstarred question in Lok Sabha.
NIMUBEN JAYANTIBHAI BAMBHANIYA: The Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution who provided the answer to the question.
Lok Sabha: The lower house of the Parliament of India, where the question was raised.
Internet of Things: Technology used for digital monitoring ecosystem of PDS warehouses.
CCTV: Technology used for surveillance of PDS warehouses
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS. FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4407
TO BE ANSWERED ON 20TH AUGUST, 2025
PDS WAREHOUSES
4407 SHRI SURESH KUMAR KASHYAP:
Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
be pleased to state:
(a) the measures taken to ensure safety, hygiene and quality control for effective
preservation offoodgrains in Public Distribution System (PDS) warehouses; and
(b) the manner in which the digital equipment and monitoring systems such as Internet of
Things (loT) based sensors have been integrated into the warehouse operations under PDS?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS,
FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRIM ATI NIMUBEN JAYANTIBHAI BAMBHANIYA)
(a): The foodgrains meant for central pool are procured strictly as per the uniform specifications
formulated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution. The procured foodgrains are stored
in scientifically build godowns by adopting scientific code of storage practices. Further, the CCTV
cameras arid fire fighting equipments are also installed at godowns for safety of stored foodgrains.
(b): A pilot project is being implemented with smart warehousing technologies, creating
a
seamless digital monitoring ecosystem that includes CCTV surveillance and Internet of Things
(loT) based sensors to monitor key parameters.
SeSeRScSe