Punjab: Rice hogging covered space, wheat to be stored in open
By Ruchika Khanna
The wheat procured in the coming season will be kept in “covered and plinth” (CAP) storage, as the godowns will continue to be used for storing rice being milled now.
The Food Corporation of India has already floated a tender for getting space for storing 35 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) produce so as to convert that into CAP storage. Bids for converting 5 LMT space into CAP storage have been received, forcing the central agency to re-invite bids for getting another 30 LMT space before April.
This CAP storage is being created over and above the already existing CAP storage of 40 LMT in the state, where wheat will be stored from April onwards.
During the 2024-25 wheat marketing season, when wheat gets harvested, 125 LMT of it is expected to arrive in mandis for procurement. Since the rice, shelled from the paddy procured in 2024 and being delivered now, will be stored in the godowns, there will be little space to store wheat in godowns.
“We are adding 12 LMT new silo storage for wheat in Punjab. We are confident that 50 per cent of that capacity (6 LMT) will be available for storing this year’s wheat. Another 20 LMT wheat will be directly delivered from mandis to the recipient states. We are also hiring 25 LMT space from state procurement agencies for wheat, while new wheat storage capacity of 20 LMT should become operational in the state next year under the Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee Scheme. This will allow us to store wheat in these godowns,” said B Srinivasan, Regional General Manager, FCI, Punjab.
Officials in the FCI said the movement of rice stored in the godowns was also being speeded up. Almost 38 LMT rice had already been moved out to other rice consuming states, while another 10 LMT was expected to be moved out by end of this month. Around 70 LMT rice would have been moved out from Punjab by the end of March. But the space thus created would be used to store the rice being milled now. Since the paddy milling started last month, 13.5 LMT rice had already been milled and delivered.
This article has been republished from The Tribune.