Member of Parliament Kartikeya Sharma, raised the issue of the government’s work in developing cold chain capacity on Friday and requested details from the government. The Minister of State for Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Prahlad Singh Patel, mentioned in his answer that the Ministry of Food Processing Industries has been implementing a scheme named “Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure (CCI)” since 2008 for the development of cold chain infrastructure all over the country. Currently, a sub-scheme of ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY)’ and a demand-driven scheme wherein proposals are being invited from interested individuals or entities through Expressions of Interest (EoI), have been floated from time to time by the Ministry.
The ministry approves the proposals on a merit basis, as per the eligibility and assessment criteria specified in the guidelines. MoFPI has so far allowed 376 such projects in all states and UTs, with an overall cost of Rs. 10713.13 crores, approved grants-in-aid of Rs. 2848.39 crores, processing capacity of 152.18 lakh MT/ annum, and preservation capacity of 31.51 lakh MT/ annum. The young MP put another question: “Were steps taken by the government to increase the cold chain capacity in Haryana during the last five years? If yes, then give its details.” Prahlad Singh Patel went on to say that the government has approved a total of 376 projects, of which 19 are in Haryana with a project cost of Rs 536.40 crore.
In addition, the government approved grants-in-aid totalling Rs. 140.28 crore, a processing capacity of 6.39 lakh metric tons, and a preservation facility of 1.66 lakh metric tonnes per year. He put another question to the minister, Prahlad Singh Patel, saying, “What is the government’s plan to train youngsters to operate the cold chain system? “How many youth have received training in the last three years?” Please give state wise details. The minister categorically said that youths were not given training regarding operating cold chain systems. However, there is information from the Sector Skill Council, namely FICSI (Food Industry Capacity & Skill Initiative), that training was given to several people in the fields of Cold Storage Technician (CST), Preservation Technician (PT), and Store Assistant-Food Manufacturing Facility (SA-FMF).