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Barnala gets steel silos for grain storage of up to 50,000 metric tonne

BARNALA: With the aim to overcome problem of wheat storage, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has signed an agreement with a Delhi-based company to store wheat for 30 years in scientific manner.


The company VRC Silos Private Limited has set up a 50,000 metric tonne (MT) capacity steel silos facility, along with a dedicated rail dispatch facility, at village Sekha near Barnala town.

The silos constructed at a cost of Rs 70 crore started working on Monday. It is expected to get 50,000 MT wheat in a few days.

FCI will pay monthly rent of Rs 1,319 per MT to the developer for storing wheat.

Nearly 170-180 lakh MT wheat is expected to be procured in Punjab during the ongoing season. At present most of the godowns are full to the brim with rice already stored there. The state government has written to FCI authorities to send rice to other states in special trains to make room for wheat produce.

VRC Silos CEO J C Kalita said the plant came into operation through FCI. The rail dispatch was planned immediately after commissioning the private rail siding, attached with the silos complex.

“The farmers will be benefited by the storage system as the unloading time is almost negligible with the help of mechanical system of the silos. The preservation and further dispatches of grains will be cost effective for the government for placement at different demand locations in the country,” said an FCI official. The silos agreement is valid for next 30 years for the benefit of FCI and Indian Railways , he said.

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