April 5, 2010

Food Corporation of India to increase grain storage capacity

Indian state, Karnataka's reserves of grains under Public Distribution System will get a boost when the Food Corporation of India (FCI) increases storage capacity of its warehouse by 2.05 lakh tonnes.

Karnataka Regional General Manager of FCI Y.K. Kunju said such a huge increase in storage capacity was being taken up through private participation under the scheme Private Entrepreneurs' Godowns-2008.

In the first phase, the storage capacity would be increased by about one lakh tonnes while in the second phase, another 1.05 lakh tonnes would be added.

This would take the total storage capacity of FCI warehouses in the state to 10.25 lakh tonnes from the present 8.2 lakh tonnes, he said.

After such a capacity increase, Karnataka would be able to store a huge quantum of food grains sufficient enough to take care of the supply for four months under the Public Distribution System (PDS). Such an increase in the storage capacity would strengthen the PDS in the state as the distribution would not be affected even if the transport system is thrown out of gear due to calamities, he said. Presently, the state is storing food grains only for about three months owing to lack of storage capacity.

Tenders had been invited from interested persons with suitable property for building the warehouses, he said. Based on this initiative, the private party would build warehouses for the exclusive use of FCI on a rental basis.

There was no financial commitment on the part of the FCI for construction of private warehouses, he noted.

However, there were certain norms such as the property on which the warehouses are coming should be within eight km of distance from the main road. Similarly, the warehouses with a capacity of more than 25,000 tonnes would have to be located within the railway yards.

Though the last date for submission of tenders has been indicated as April 7, he said it was likely to be extended by about a week following demand from private parties, he said.