New Delhi: The National Level Coordination Committee (NLCC) for the world’s largest grain storage plan held its maiden meeting in the Ministry of Cooperation in the national capital on Monday.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation, Ashish Kumar Bhutani along with the Secretary (Agriculture and Farmers Welfare), Secretary (Food and Public Distribution), Secretary (Food Processing Industries), and MD (NCDC) held the first meeting with the Food Corporation of India (FCI), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD, WDRA and other stakeholders, the Ministry of Cooperation said in a press release.
The committee reviewed the status of implementation of its pilot project in 11 states, which was initiated last year.
The plan envisages the creation of various agricultural infrastructures at the PACS level, including warehouses, custom hiring centre, processing units, fair price shops, etc. through the convergence of various existing schemes of the Government of India (GoI), such as the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) and Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME) etc.
Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary, of the Ministry of Cooperation, Bhutani said that the project is one of the most ambitious ones being undertaken by the Government of India envisaging the creation of warehouses at a decentralized level for the nationwide rollout of the plan, the release stated.
The pilot project has been implemented by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) with the support of NABARD, Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS) in coordination with States/ UTs concerned. Further, the pilot is being extended to 500 additional PACS with the support of State Governments, NCCF, National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), etc.
States/UTs and National level Cooperative Federations, like National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED), have identified more PACS for the creation of storage capacity and other agricultural infrastructure under the Project, the release added.
The Committee members also discussed how to take the plan forward on a nationwide scale, including the possible options for the linkage of godowns with various stakeholders. (ANI)
