Nod to 101 cold chains to cut wastage of fruits, veggies

NEW DELHI: Encouraged by the interest shown by over 150 big and small players such as GMR, Big Basket, Haldiram and Amul, the government today sanctioned 101 new cold chain projects which will infuse a little over Rs 2,200 crore of private investment, with the government subsidy component around Rs 833 crore.

Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal in New Delhi on Monday. Mukesh Aggarwal

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 27

Encouraged by the interest shown by over 150 big and small players such as GMR, Big Basket, Haldiram and Amul, the government today sanctioned 101 new cold chain projects which will infuse a little over Rs 2,200 crore of private investment, with the government subsidy component around Rs 833 crore.

Claiming that the move is aimed at reducing wastage of fruits and vegetables and thus help farmers, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said, the projects will bring in around Rs 3,100 crore of which the ministry’s grant-in-aid would be Rs 838 crore, while the remaining amount will come as private investment.

The maximum number of cold chain projects will come up in Maharashtra (21), followed by Uttar Pradesh (14), Gujarat (12) and Andhra Pradesh (8). Punjab and Madhya Pradesh will have six projects each.

Badal said: “We have sanctioned 101 new cold chain projects across the country with a capacity of 2.76 lakh metric tonnes. Wastage is high due to lack of cold chain infrastructure.”

Of the total projects sanctioned, 53 are in fruits and vegetables sector, 33 in dairy and 15 in meat, poultry and marine, an official of the ministry said, adding about 2.6 lakh farmers are expected to benefit from these projects, which would also provide direct/indirect employment opportunities to 60,000 people.

She said the government intended to create a National Food Grid through these cold chain and mega food park projects to bring down the wastage and post-harvest losses.