Owners of foodgrain godowns in Punjab, with a combined storage capacity of 35 lakh tonnes, have asked the state food and civil supplies department to either vacate the godowns or renew their storage agreements with a fixed deadline.
The association demanded that rent be paid based on the actual quantity of foodgrains stored, pointing out that even during these six months, payments have not been released according to the volume of grain kept in storage. “The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has also rolled out its tenders. The state’s entire warehouse capacity of 180 lakh tonnes is currently full. The government godowns are already storing 155 lakh tonnes of rice accumulated over the past three seasons. An additional 10 lakh tonnes of paddy from the last season are still waiting to be milled, which is expected to add another 6 lakh tonnes of rice to the existing stockpile. There are at least 150 godown owners who constructed their facilities under the PEG scheme.
Because the FCI pays the rent to the state government, any rate increase creates a win-win situation for both godown owners and the state department, entrepreneurs who own these godowns believe that.
“Ironically, while the Punjab government is approaching the Centre for movement of surplus foodgrains to create storage space for the upcoming paddy harvest season, the continued uncertainty and unresolved issues faced by existing godown owners are discouraging further investment in storage infrastructure in Punjab,” said Dapinder Singh Brar, general secretary of the PEG association. “Some districts in Punjab have reported no release of any rent, so any rent withheld for the past six-month period should also be released immediately,” said Brar. In case the state department and Pungrain fail to facilitate the entrepreneurs, we would like to shift to the FCI, as many godown owners have already shifted,” the association said.
