Punjab rues inaction on increasing food grain storage
July 16th, 2011 - 9:56 pm ICT by IANS
Chandigarh, July 16 (IANS) The Punjab government Saturday lamented the inaction by the central government in creating more storage capacity for food grain in the state - the food granary of the country.
Highlighting the problem of storage of food grains, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi Saturday, said that despite repeated requests, no action had been initiated to increase storage capacity.
Against a required capacity of 49 lakh tonnes for food grain storage, the total approved capacity is only 22 lakh tonnes, he said, according to officials here.
Badal said that the arrival of the new paddy crop will further aggravate the situation.
He also requested the prime minister to direct the railways ministry to speed up the movement of food grains from the state so that more storage space could be made available for the storage of the new paddy crop.
He lamented that the movement was too slow at present, on an average of about 15 lakh tonnes being moved per month.
Badal pointed out that the total food grain stock of 201 lakh tonnes was lying in the state presently.
Raising another issue - procurement of maize - to encourage the farmers to shift some cultivable areas from rice to maize, Badal urged the prime minister to take up this matter with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to procure maize from Punjab farmers on the lines of wheat and paddy.
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- India's biggest grain warehouse in Punjab soon - Dec 10, 2011
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- Punjab seeks PM intervention on procurement - Feb 02, 2011
- Punjab farmers stop trains, Badal warns of unrest - Oct 29, 2010
- 'Punjab deputy commissioners accountable for paddy procurement' - Oct 16, 2010
- Punjab, Haryana procure record 200 lakh tonnes of wheat - May 11, 2012
- Punjab wants central government to allow wheat export - May 19, 2012
- Punjab farmers continue rail blockade - Oct 30, 2010
- Over 10 mn tonnes of paddy procured in Punjab - Nov 03, 2010
- FCI asked to create 15 MT additional storage capacity - Sep 16, 2011
Tags: central government, chief minister, food corporation of india, food corporation of india fci, food grain, food grains, grain storage, granary, inaction, maize, manmohan, manmohan singh, paddy crop, parkash singh badal, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, punjab government, storage capacity, storage space, tonnes