Punjab seeks policy to check foodgrain damage

| | Chandigarh
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Punjab seeks policy to check foodgrain damage

Wednesday, 19 February 2020 | PNS | Chandigarh

Underlining that Punjab is not able to bear the annual loss of more than Rs 2,000 crore due to damage to food grains, the State Government on Tuesday urged the Centre to come up with an effective policy to check the same.

At the same time, the State Punjab Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu has also appealed to the Union Minister of State of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Raosaheb Dadarao Danve to enhance the storage capacity in the State.

Ashu made the demands during his meeting with the Union Minister, who is on two-day visit to the State.

Strongly taking up the issue of shortage of food grains storage capacity in Punjab, Ashu said that although Punjab has been the food bowl of our country for the last several decades, the responsibility of managing storage of procured food grains is also meted by the State.

“Due to limited resources, Punjab is unable to increase the storage capacity on their own and the Union Government should assist the State Government in this regard,” he said while appealing to the Union Minister that the Centre should formulate a nationwide effective policy in this regard so that the food grains produced in agrarian state of Punjab do not get damaged.

Ashu said that Punjab not only grows food grains, but they are also asked to manage their storage for up to three years, whereas food grains are not stored in Rajasthan for more than three months.

“If the Union Government formulates a policy, food grains from Punjab can be stored in states such as Rajasthan or others,” said Ashu while advocated the sale of food grains from Punjab to countries such as Afghanistan or some other South Asian countries.

 

He said that for lifting of food grains, special permission is granted for only 10-12 goods trains daily, which should be increased to at least 20.

He also demanded that under the Private Entrepreneur Guarantee (PEG) scheme, approvals for construction of godowns, with at least 20 lakh metric tonnes capacity, should be granted.

About the State’s current storage situation, Ashu said that around 95 lakh metric tonne of food grains from previous years are being stored in the State, out of which around 36 lakh metric tonne is lying in open storage and around 60 lakh metric tonnes is stored in godowns.

He said that adding to it, around 130 lakh metric tonnes of wheat is expected to arrive in mandis in April 2020, and Punjab would be unable to store such massive inflow of food grains due to shortage of storage capacity.

Appreciating Punjab model of public distribution system (PDS), the Union Minister Danve said that if food grains are distributed to the beneficiaries for a collective period of six months in entire country, the problem of storage as well as damage of food grains would be resolved automatically.

“With the adoption of this system, 600 lakh tonne of food grains can reach the households in one go and the beneficiaries would be benefitted to a large extent. He also showed keen interest in implementing the Punjab model of PDS in entire country.

 

PUNJAB TO GET 31 SILOS SOON FOR SCIENTIFIC STORAGE OF FOODGRAINS

Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Raosaheb Patil Danve on Tuesday said that in order to prevent wastage of foodgrains in traditional storage system, the Government has planned to construct 31 silos in Punjab for proper scientific storage of food grains.

Danve, who was at Sangrur to inspect the godowns of Food Corporation of India (FCI) and review the public distribution system of food grains, said that the process for the identification of suitable sites has been initiated and soon construction of new silos will be started.

He said that silo structures follows a scientific method of storing grains where stored grain is kept dry and aired so as to prevent fungal and insect attacks for much longer time period as compared to traditional methods.

Earlier, during his meeting with Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu in Ludhiana, Danve said that 21 sites for this purpose have already been shortlisted, whereas the remaining sites would also be finalized shortly.

Danve said that it would check the problem of storage to a large extent. He also assured that he would take up all problems related to Punjab with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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