Catering to the demand of West Bengal Cold Storage Association, the Agricultural Marketing department has proposed increasing the rent of cold storages for potato preservation.
“The state government-formed expert committee has sent a file with all relevant documents, proposing a hike in cold storage rent, to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. We are waiting for her approval,” Becharam Manna, state Agricultural Marketing minister said. Cold storage rent is advised by the state on the basis of recommendation of the government appointed expert committee which takes into consideration the rate of increment for the various input costs e.g. cost of electricity, ammonia, office maintenance, repair and maintenance of machinery/equipment, staff salary charges for all types of labour engaged for loading and unloading of potato.
According to the Association, the state government has not revised rents after 2021. The expert committee also recommended revision of storage rent to Rs 190/quintal and Rs 194/quintal for south and north Bengal, respectively, with the input costs for the industry increasing by leaps and bounds.
An official of the Association pointed out that cold storage rent in other states range from Rs 230 to Rs 270 per quintal but in Bengal it is from Rs 168 to Rs 172 per quintal. “We have accepted a monetary loss of Rs 31.30/quintal and failed to modernize our units in spite of wanting to do so in the last two years. As a result, the farmers and hirer
consumers are deprived of modern techniques of preservation,” he added. There are 602 cold storages in Bengal, out of which 497 are for potatoes. About 450 storages are presently active. The total capacity of the units is 85.33 lakh metric tonnes.
Patit Paban De, former president of the Association said that new cold storages are being set up as per request by the state government but it is unsure whether these can be made operational without the operation cost being increased. “We have not received any official communication of an increase in rent but we are keeping our fingers crossed,” De said.