Tussle over construction of silos intensifies

Ruchika M. Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 22

The ongoing tussle between the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC) and PUNGRAIN - a wing of the Food and Supplies Department, headed by Food Minister Adaish Partap Kairon, may not be over yet, in spite of the state Cabinet deciding against the “monopolisation” of construction of silos by one entity.

The Cabinet, which met yesterday, decided that the construction of 15 lakh tonne capacity silos in the state will be carried out by Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC), while PUNGRAIN has been allowed to go ahead with the construction of silos having 10 lakh tonne capacity, at ten different places in the state. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had reportedly got unwell. Food minister Kairon was also not present in the meeting.

Sources say Kairon has not taken kindly to the bifurcation of the work of silo construction, from PUNGRAIN to PSWC. These silos are to be constructed for the Food Corporation of India and it is only because of the persistent efforts of Kairon that over Rs 1,600 crore has been sanctioned to Punjab under the NABARD Warehousing Scheme of 2013. He is learnt to have conveyed his point of view on why he wanted PUNGRAIN to go ahead with silo construction to the Chief Minister, after Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

For almost a week, trouble had been brewing over one agency – PUNGRAIN - going ahead with the construction of silos for foodgrain storage. Senior functionaries in the state government had tried to sort out the issue, asking the Food and Supply Department to allow the PSWC to construct part of the covered storage (10 lakh tonnes storage of the total 30 lakh tonnes that PUNGRAIN initially proposed to construct). Since this was reportedly not acceptable to the Food Supplies Department, they had conveyed the same to the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister. The PSWC had been contending that rules of business in government clearly defined that the storage capacity had to be built by them, and thus wanted to construct these silos and get a regular source of rental income.

In the Cabinet meeting, where this contentious issue was discussed – in the absence of food minister Kairon - sources say that most Cabinet ministers agreed that steel silos should be created by all the state government agencies that are storing foodgrains.

The Council of Ministers were also informed that the Food Corporation of India had cut down Rs 700 crore, from the dues it owed to the state government for foodgrain storage, as grains worth Rs 700 crore, had rotted in the open and unscientific storages in the state. Following this, the proposal to create a modern warehousing facility for 15 lakh tonnes by the PSWC was cleared. Other agencies like Markfed and Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation, too, have been asked to prepare a blue print and construct their own warehousing facilities.