The meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee to facilitate the ‘World Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector’ was organized on Thursday at the headquarters of Ministry of Cooperation at Atal Akshay Urja Bhawan, New Delhi.
On the occasion, Union Home and Cooperative Minister Amit Shah, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State for Cooperation BL Verma, Union Cooperation Secretary Gyanesh Kumar, Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies Vijay Kumar and other senior officers were present.
During the meeting, the discussion was held regarding the implementation of the world’s largest grain storage scheme in the cooperative sector. Soon after the meeting, the news was shared by BL Verma through his facebook wall.
According to sources, during the meeting Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah reviewed the progress of the scheme and roadblocks in successful implementation of the scheme. This was the first meeting after the constitution of IMC.
Earlier, during the monsoon session, Union Minister Amit Shah said in a written reply in the Parliament, the construction of the storage has started at five PACS, one each in the States of Tripura, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Detailed Project Reports are under preparation for the remaining PACS.
“The creation of decentralized storage capacity ranging from 500 MT to 2000 MT at PACS level would reduce food grain wastage by creating sufficient storage capacity, strengthen food security of the country, prevent distress sale of crops and enable farmers to realise better prices for their crops”, he added.
It bears recalling that in May 2023, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the constitution of an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) for forming the World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in the Cooperative Sector by integrating various schemes of different ministries on Wednesday.
There are three ministries, which would work under the Chairmanship of Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah. Ministries to be engaged in the IMC are the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
This initiative has been undertaken to set up decentralized storage capacity at the level of PACS along with other agri infrastructure, which would not only strengthen the food security of the country, but would also enable PACS to transform themselves into vibrant economic entities.
