Liquidate wheat stock: FCI to Moga, Faridkot administrations

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Farikdot, September 28

As its filled granaries are set to pose storage problem in the forthcoming rabi season, authorities of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) have approached the district administrations in Faridkot and Moga to take prompt action to liquidate the stock.

The FCI has about 1.73 lakh metric tonne (LMT) wheat stock at two silos, the giant steel structures used to store grains for a longer duration, at Kotkapura town in Faridkot and Dagru village in Moga. This stock of 2017-18 seasons was procured by the FCI and stored at the silos owned by Adani Agri Logistics Limited.

Since the day of passing of the farm laws, farmers are camping at the gates of these silos, allowing no movement of the food stock.

In a meeting with the district authorities, the FCI officials conveyed that if the government doesn’t take prompt action to liquidate the stock, there could be severe storage crunch during the coming rabi season, when the new wheat needs sufficient space for storage in the area, said a senior functionary in the FCI.

In a meeting with the FCI, the district administration also expressed its helplessness in the movement of the wheat stock from the silos.

“We have conveyed our helplessness to the FCI. There would be no shifting of the stock from the silos until the farmers’ union agrees to it,” said a senior officer in the district administration.

BKU (Rajewal) district chief Binder Singh Golewala said: “We don’t oppose the movement or liquidation of the stock. But as Adani is the main architect of the draconian farm laws, we won’t allow any movement from these silos till these are withdrawn.”

The FCI authorities said due to a significant gap between the quantum of procurement of grains and slow movement of the stock to other states, it has resulted in us holding on to more grain stocks than needed. This has resulted in rising food subsidy expenses, as buffer carrying costs have been rising steadily.

While Adani’s silo of 3 LMT capacity in Moga is working since 2007, the silo at Kotkapura with built in capacity of 30,000 MT started working three years back. Adani has a BOO (Build, Own, Operate) agreement with the FCI for providing storage space.