FCI to beef up capacity in NE with PDS in mind

The Food Corporation of India is looking to augment its storage capacity in the north-east region to ensure timely supplies for the government’s public distribution system. “Inadequate storage facility in the north-east region creates problems in ensuring regular supplies to the PDS (public distribution system),” Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar told ET. The current storage capacity of the government’s top grain management agency in the north-eastern states is 4.58 lakh tonne, which is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the welfare schemes and also ensure availability of key food items through the year. The ministry of agriculture has, therefore, allowed FCI to hire godowns from private party for 10 years even as it builds its own capacity. The agency plans to lift its grain storage capacity in the region by 5.25 lakh tonnes over the next couple of years at a cost of Rs 568 crore, helping it reduce the year round dependence on transport systems to move grain to this deficit region. The agency already has 77,500 tonne of storage capacity under construction at various places including 50,000 tonne of warehouse facility at Changsari near Guwahati. Most of the north-east India, except Assam, relies heavily on road transport for movement of essential commodities . In the case of Assam 66% of the essential goods are moved by the railways while roads transport about 30 %. Tripura and some parts of Nagaland have some rail connectivity but other states are dependent on roads. Life saving drugs, garments and food grains are brought to these region on trucks. More than 1,000 trucks come to Guwahati everyday from New Delhi, Haryana and West Bengal and nearly 200 trucks make there way from Guwahati to Upper Assam and other areas of the north eastern states. Authorities in the north east have recently begun cracking down on over-loading trucks, following a supreme court directive. Trucks have been carrying 15-20 tonne of load against 9 tonne allowed officially.