State godowns can hold just 18 pc of expected rice

CHANDIGARH: Godowns in Punjab have space to accommodate just 18 per cent of rice to be shelled from 190 lakh metric tonnes LMT of paddy that starts arriving in state mandis from October 1 onwards

Updated At : 07:13 AM Sep 21, 2018 IST

Punjab has 158 lakh metric tonnes of covered space, with 108 LMT of space created by the Food Corporation of India and 50 LMT space created by the state procurement agencies. file photo

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 20

Godowns in Punjab have space to accommodate just 18 per cent of rice to be shelled from 190 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy that starts arriving in state mandis from October 1 onwards.

Punjab has 158 lakh metric tonnes of covered space, with 108 LMT of space created by the Food Corporation of India and 50 LMT space created by the Punjab state procurement agencies. Information available with The Tribune shows that while all the state government godowns are full with the wheat procured in April-May and FCI godowns full with rice milled in previous two years, only 22 LMT of space is available for the new stock of rice to be milled in the upcoming season.

It is learnt that 22 LMT of wheat and 62 LMT of rice (from 2016-17 and 2017-18) is lying in the FCI godowns, while 50 LMT of wheat is lying in the godowns of state procurement agencies. About 2 LMT of space in FCI godowns is used for storing jute bags, thus leaving just 22 LMT of space for the new rice that will begin arriving within 10 days.

While the FCI directly takes the paddy from the mandis to its godowns (this year FCI intends buying almost 10 LMT of paddy), the state procurement agencies lift the paddy from the mandis and send them directly to 4,000 rice shellers in the state, which also act as storage points for the state government’s paddy.

The problem of storage begins when the rice shellers mill the paddy and start delivering custom milled rice (CMR) to the FCI. Tarsem Saini, president of the Punjab Rice Millers Association told The Tribune that the delivery of custom milled rice would begin from mid-November and the entire rice (120 LMT) would be delivered by April end next year. This was also the time when the fresh wheat (to be harvested in April next year) would require to be stored.

Officials in the regional office of the FCI, however, said by the time the entire stock of rice milled in the 2018-19 season would arrive, they would create 90 lakh metric tonnes of space by June 1, 2019. “As many as 16-17 rakes of foodgrains from FCI godowns in Punjab are being moved each day. On an average, we are moving 10-12 LMT of grains from Punjab to the recipient states each month,” said Regional Manager, Punjab, FCI, AS Thind. He said by November 1, before the custom milled rice delivery would start, they would have 35 LMT of space for 20 LMT of rice they expected to arrive by the end of November.

The conviction shown by the FCI regional office for creating adequate space by expediting the movement of grains is perhaps not shared by the Punjab government. In the past few days, several joint meetings between the two sides have taken place. Anandita Mitra, Director, Food Supplies, Punjab, told The Tribune that the state government had asked the FCI to move its stock with more speed, so that the new foodgrains procured could be stored properly in the godowns.