Railway to Give Surplus Land for Foodgrain Storage Facilities

NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways will provide its surplus land parcels on lease at more than locations to Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other agencies of the food ministry for building storage facilities to see not a single grain is wasted.
Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan and railway minister Piyush Goyal shared the common agenda of the two ministries after a review meeting on this issue on Tuesday.

The FCI and other agencies under the food ministry have about 74.5 million tonnes of storage capacity, which includes gunnies of foodgrains kept under ‘covered and plinth’ (CAP), which is not a good practice to store grains. There are often reports of how gunnies of foodgrains get wet due to rain in different parts of the country.
The current gap in storage capacity is more than 8 million tonnes.

Three agencies under the food ministry – FCI, CWC and CRWC – have carried out the storage gap analysis to estimate the requirement.
Out of the 87 locations shared by the FCI with the railways, land has been identified for 36 locations, which are in close proximity to railway stations. The inspections have been carried out at 24 locations.
Similarly CRWC had sent a list of 11 locations for leasing railway land for construction of godowns and the railways has given positive signals at two locations in Gujarat and West Bengal.
“We discussed the construction of storage facilities and warehouses on railway land. After completion of these works we will have more storage capacity and not a single foodgrain will be wasted,” Paswan tweeted. Goyal also said construction of storage facilities on surplus land of railways will pave the way for enhanced storage of food grains, leading to better agriculture supply chain and more gains to farmers.

Source: ToI