The Food Corporation of India (FCI) in April 2012 notified 10 sites
in States for construction of modern silos to be declared as mandis. The
decision to construct silos/mandis reflected FCI’s objective to augment
capacity for storing food-grains for the public distribution system.
The mandis would be constructed to enable farmers to directly sell their
produce.
The FCI Board of Directors headed by Chairman Siraj Hussain on 13
April 2012 decided that the silos shall be either located within the
local mandi or declared as mandis by the States. The silos are to be
located alongside railway sidings.
With the coming in of fresh stocks of wheat in the mandis,
storage has become a major concern with the Food Ministry. Government
needs to urgently accelerate creation of additional storage space to
prevent rotting of grains stored in the open as well as to keep enough
stocks to fulfil its obligation under the proposed National Food
Security Act to provide by law subsidised foodgrains to the poor.
The government appointed M/s Mott McDonald as consultants for
conducting a feasibility study on creation of modern storage facilities.
The consultant submitted the final report to the Planning Commission in
November 2011. Based on their proposals the Empowered Group of
Ministers (EGoM) for Food approved the creation of facilities for
storing 20 lakh tonnes of foodgrains in 10 States under its Private
Entrepreneur Guarantee Scheme (PEG) wherein the FCI will give guarantee
for hiring the facility for 10 years.
State-level panels
The FCI Board of Directors also set up State-level committees on
silos headed by the zonal chief with representation from the Ministries
of Food, Agriculture, and Railways, and mandis and States on it. The
committee is responsible for approving the locations for godowns in each
of the 10 States — Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab,
Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, and Gujarat.
The Board directed that locations with high procurement and
off-take of wheat be preferred for creation of silos. The location of
silos is to be considered on the basis of wheat procurement and off-take
in a revenue district. Each silo is to have a capacity of either 25000
tonnes or 50000 tonnes depending upon the availability of space under
the Private Entrepreneur Guarantee Scheme. Each State will have to
provide the space for construction of godowns. Creation of 51.25 lakh
tonnes capacity in Punjab and 38.8 lakh tonnes in Haryana was
recommended.
In the wheat procuring-cum-consuming regions of Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, silos have been sanctioned for additional
capacity. Proposal for creation of 19.52 lakh tonnes in Madhya Pradesh
and for 6.40 lakh tonnes in Bihar was also approved during the meeting
of the FCI board on 13 April 2012.
The FCI Board decided that in the consuming regions of
Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Gujarat the silos should
have at least four-month storage capacity. The States which have not
been able to sanction the capacity or start construction work for silos
will have to let go and transfer their sanctioned capacity to another
State. The States will have to provide land and invite tenders within
three months following the approval of the location.
