In a written reply Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said, “Under the initiative of ‘PACS as Common Service Centre’, total 52,877 PACS have been onboarded as CSC, out of which 37,169 PACS have started functioning as CSC in the country”.
“In order to address the shortage of storage capacity for food grains in the country, the Government on 31.05.2023, has approved the “World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in the Cooperative Sector”, which has been rolled out as a Pilot Project”, he added.
Shah further added, “The Plan entails creation of various agri infrastructure at PACS level, including warehouses, custom hiring centers, processing units, Fair Price Shops, etc. through convergence of various existing schemes of the Government of India (GoI), such as, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME), etc”.
“Under the Pilot Project, godowns have been constructed in 11 PACS of 11 States with the support of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). NABARD and NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS)”, underlined Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah.