Chandigarh, July 30-Stung by criticism from the Supreme Court as well as widespread public outcry over wastage of thousands of tonnes of wheat, Punjab is now focusing its energy on construction of silos to store food grains in a scientific manner in the state.The state, however, wants help from the Centre to fast track silo construction in order to store grain in bulk.Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal stressed this point during their recent visit to Delhi in talks with the Prime Minister as well as others. The state wants incentives for the private sector so that silos come up fast, said Sukhbir.Talking to the Tribune after a meeting of the state Cabinet, he said the Centre had been requested to give tax incentives as well as put silo industry on the priority list so that investors could get easy loans.Punjab also wants silos to succeed in the long term and not go the way of various big godowns, which have run down or are not functioning because the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has not got into long term contracts with them.“We want that all silo owners should be offered a minimum rent for storing food grains which should cover a 10-year period,” Sukhbir said.He said the minimum amount should be given whether FCI stored food grains in the silo or not.Earlier, a proposal had been put up before the FCI to guarantee a seven-year storage rental to new silos. The state wants this increased to 10 years due to the heavy investment cost of silos. The Adani group has at present constructed a silo in Moga at a cost of Rs 600 crore for storing two lakh tonnes of food grain.The state has in a separate request also demanded that silos be constructed adjoining “mandis”. This has been done to reduce costs in shifting of food grains from one place to another.Meanwhile, in another development, the state has requested Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to speed up the movement of food grains out of the state. The state has also pointed out that the paddy crop would be in the market in another two months and that it was imperative to move wheat out of the state through special rakes.
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