Chandigarh, June 2:- Haryana Chief Minister Shri Naib Singh Saini said that proper arrangements will be made for food storage in Haryana to save the food grains grown by farmers from spoilage. Under this, new godowns with a capacity of 20 lakh metric tonnes will be built in Haryana this year, for which the officials should make full preparations and work towards achieving the target.
The Chief Minister gave these instructions on Tuesday while presiding over a review meeting of the roadmap and action plan of the Food and Supplies Department for the next 5 years under Haryana Vision-2047 at the Haryana Civil Secretariat.
Commissioner and Secretary of the Food and Supplies Department Shri J Ganesan said that due to open storage of food grains or lack of proper storage, 4 to 5 percent of food grains are lost in the state. To avoid this loss, it is mandatory to arrange covered storage. He said that at present the state produces 115 lakh metric tonnes of wheat, 71 lakh MT of paddy, 110 lakh MT of fruits and vegetables and 115 lakh MT of milk and other dairy products. Haryana's contribution to national food security is about 25 percent. At present, Haryana has a capacity to store 66 lakh metric tonnes of food grains, which needs to be increased to 130 lakh MT. On this, the Chief Minister said that to check the loss of food grains, an action plan should be made to construct covered storage, increase the capacity of cold storage and make proper use of available resources. With the mutual coordination of all the concerned departments, the target of constructing godowns with a capacity of 20 lakh metric tonnes in PPP mode should be achieved this year so that the food grains can be saved from spoilage. He said that for proper storage of food grains, horticultural crops, vegetables and fruits in the state, an action plan will be implemented within the next 5 years, which will ensure maximum utilization of the produced food grains.
The Chief Minister said that the godowns built in the state should also be made a means of energy production. Solar panels should be installed on the roofs of all the godowns and connected to the grid so that electricity production can be increased. Similarly, instead of loading sacks on the backs of laborers in mandis and godowns, pilot projects should be started for conveyor belts or other technical arrangements for this work.
Commissioner and Secretary of the Food and Supplies Department, Shri J. Ganesan, while presenting the outline of the work to be done by the department during the next 5 years to curb crop losses and achieve the targets given by the Chief Minister, said that this would prevent losses of Rs. 3000 to 5000 crores.
On this occasion, Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Shri Arun Kumar Gupta, Commissioner and Secretary, Food and Supplies Department Shri J Ganesan, Principal Secretary, Department of Future Mrs. Amneet P Kumar, OSD to the Chief Minister and Director General of Swaran Jayanti Haryana Institute of Financial Management Dr. Raj Nehru and Deputy Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Shri Yashpal Yadav along with other officials were also present.