Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) move to grant more powers to the state-level officers in construction and maintenance of storages and godowns seems to be making progress. Till last week, state-level committees have sanctioned 5.03 lakh tonne of storage space, of which the highest 3 lakh tonne have been sanctioned in Andhra Pradesh, followed by 1.35 lakh tonne in Tamil Nadu, 0.40 lakh tonne in Rajasthan and 0.28 lakh tonne in Haryana.
The central government had given powers to zonal executive directors of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to sanction storage capacity if the rates are within Rs 2.76 per quintal per month for bare space and Rs 4.16 per quintal for offers with preservation, maintenance and security.
The high-level committee of the FCI, chaired by the CMD of the corporation has till date sanctioned 2.88 lakh tonne of capacity, of which 1.64 lakh tonne is in Jammu and Kashmir, under the 10-year guarantee programme and 1.22 lakh tonne in Rajasthan, also under the 10-year guarantee programme and 0.02 lakh tonne in Himachal Pradesh under the seven-year guarantee programme.
The FCI has sanctioned 150.80 lakh tonne of additional storage capacity this year, to meet the increased requirements. Out of this, more than 80% capacity will be created by central warehousing corporation, while the rest will be created by the state warehousing corporation. ?In the review meetings central and state warehousing corporations will complete 0.90 lakh tonne capacity by March 2011 while state warehousing corporations will complete 2.65 lakh tonne by March 2011,? an FCI statement said.