Stemming the rot

Always straddled with overflowing stocks,the Granary of India is now all set to have huge grainhouses. Of the total capacity of 127 lakh MT storage space to be created in the country,71.25 lakh MT will come up in Punjab alone....

After the furore over rotting foodgrains,there comes hope. The Granary of India would within two years have huge warehouses dotting its landscape with the problem that visits the state every year that of identifying sites for storing its overflowing stocks looking set to be over. The Punjab Food and Civil Supply Department and the Food Corporation of India this time round is not looking for temporary arrangements in fields,schools and closed down sugar and rice mills to stock foodgrains for central pool but is scouting for sites to set up bigger and better godowns.

Of the total capacity of 127 lakh MT storage space to be created in the country,71.25 lakh MT alone will come up in Punjab and 39 lakh MT in neighbouring Haryana.

In the third tender floated in the past 11 months,private players have lapped up a deal to help the central food agency get more than what it offered 531 bidders offering to create 100 lakh MT space against the 68 lakh MT space proposed by it.

The first two tenders floated in September last year and March this year managed to get bids totalling to just 16 lakh MT space,and the ones that qualified technically was just 3.12 lakh MT.

Also,the rate quoted was higher than the guiding rate,forcing the FCI to call them off,as it saw no point in creating meagre capacity at a higher rate,

says DGM storage,FCI,Punjab,

Aseem Chabbra.

However,as it re-tendered the third time,the state procurement agency,Pungrain,which is executing the warehousing policy on behalf of the FCI,ensured that the bait was lucrative for bidders guarantee period for hiring godowns was revised upwards from five to seven years,and the guiding rate for storage raised to Rs 4.78 per quintal per month from Rs 3.80 per quintal per month and this too was not a ceiling for bidders who have been allowed to quote a higher rate.

Since the technical bids have been opened as of now,both Pungrain and FCI are testing the viability of the sites offered by bidders for the godowns as the locations should not be in low-lying areas prone to flooding or areas with connectivity problems.

Story continues below this ad

Once the sites are finalised,the financial bids will be opened. And here too,the bids are not likely to be dismissed for being higher than the guiding rate as bids above this rate will be referred by the state-level committee to the central-level committee for approval,adds Chabbra.

But while the states storage woes would finally end,managing stocks would still be a responsibility that the government would have to shoulder. Only two out of the over 500 bidders have opted for the second component of the scheme preservation of stored foodstocks. The others have only bid for offering storage space on rent.

More in store

This is just the beginning. The FCI has also proposed 25 lakh MT in the state for silos state-of-the-art godowns with storage facilities up to 20 years besides a higher guarantee period of 10 years in the tenders to be floated in the future. The state FCI,which has mapped availability of godowns in the entire state,says a special committee will also be nominated to study the modalities for equipping states such as Punjab and Haryana with scientific storage facilities.

In addition to hub-and spoike model big silos at procuring states and smaller ones at receiving states as created by Adani group at Moga in Punjab and Kaithal in Haryana the more cost-effective standalone silos,too,would be created in the two states to dispatch stocks as needed.

Better stock supervision

Story continues below this ad

Meanwhile,caught in a blame game over the rotting foodgrains in the state,while the FCI is offering storage solutions,the Punjab Food and Civil Supply Department,which monitors procurement by the five state agencies Punsup,Pungrain,Punjab Agro,Punjab State Warehousing Corporation and Markfed is trying to ensure better supervision of stocks under its custody. The department is preparing data on the year of procurement and condition of stocks,which once complied,will be entered into its database to facilitate online tracking of stocks to prevent rotting of grains from prolonged,improper storage.

To begin with,damaged stocks are being identified by segregating them from wheat of previous years lying in the state.

This would ensure priority movement of stocks in keeping with their condition and procurement year. As and when the stocks are moved out of the state by the FCI for the Public Distribution System PDS,field officials of the area would float the details on the website. Thus,entire information on the position of stocks in the state will just be a click away, says Secretary,Food and Civil Supply,D S Grewal.

In addition to creating a repository of information,the department has also finally hired more inspectors for better supervision of stocks. After a gap of 33 years, 900 food inspectors have been appointed through a competitive examination.

Story continues below this ad

Owing to staff shortage,one food inspector was looking after several storage points. Fresh recruitments will ensure better supervision of stocks by reducing their work load, Grewal added.

Stocks pile up

Nearly 160 lakh tonnes of foodgrains for the central pool 100 lakh tonnes of wheat and 60 lakh tonnes of rice are still lying in states godowns,fields and marketing yards as on August,and another 27 lakh tonnes of paddy remains to be milled into rice by September. Punjab has a target to procure another 137 lakh tonnes of paddy this kharif procurement season starting October.