With record purchase, state faces problem of plenty

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 16

Cramped for space in warehouses, Haryana on Wednesday asked the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to speed up the movement of stocked rice and wheat to make way for this year’s bumper production.

The state is facing a problem of plenty. Sources said Additional Chief Secretary (Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs) Ram Niwas has written to FCI Chairman and Managing Director Yogendra Tripathi, requesting him to ensure speedy movement of about 22 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of custom-milled rice and 20 lakh MT of last year’s wheat stocked in warehouses.

In another letter to Ravi Kant, Secretary to the Centre in the Food and Public Distribution Department, Niwas has said the state should be allowed to construct warehouses with 15-lakh-MT capacity under the Private Entrepreneur Guarantee (PEG) scheme.

“Under the PEG scheme, the Centre had allotted godowns with a capacity of 35.03 lakh MT to Haryana. Of that, 34.05-lakh-MT-capacity godowns were constructed. After the construction, the FCI had assured the state that no stock will be stored on open plinths. It then assured that there was no storage gap (difference between storage capacity and stock) except for 9.5-lakh-MT-capacity silos which are to be constructed. However, 19 lakh MT of wheat was stored in the open last year and nearly 40 lakh MT of wheat will have to be stocked in the open this year,” Ram Niwas reportedly said in his letter to the Centre.

Sources say procurement agencies have a storage capacity for 120 lakh MT of grains in the state — 89 lakh MT in warehouses and 31 lakh MT on open plinths. In warehouses, about 22-lakh-MT rice is stored, 20 lakh MT wheat, and 8 lakh MT gunny bags and fertilisers.

This leaves space for about 40 lakh MT of wheat out of 87.27 lakh MT procured till Tuesday, the last day for purchase. The rest of the stock will have to be stacked on open plinths.

“The government has placed orders for 4,000 polythene covers, as at least 40 lakh MT of wheat has to be stored on open plinths,” Niwas said, adding the department was expecting 80 to 82 lakh MT of wheat this time and had made arrangements for it.

“We have arranged additional gunny bags for 25 lakh quintals from the Jute Commissioner’s office and also sought permission to use last year’s bags with a capacity of 25 to 30 lakh quintals to meet the requirement,” he added.