Kolkata: The state Food and Supplies department is setting up silos at five separate places across the state that will be able to preserve rice for two years.
"We have to be prepared for any sort of natural calamity or emergency-like situation so that even if there is a crisis, we will be able to tackle it. We have plans to preserve 10,000 metric tonnes of rice in each of the silos," state Food and Supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick said at an interactive session on achievements of Khadya Sathi organised by Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.
As per estimates of the Food department, setting up each silo will involve around Rs 80 crore. Three such silos will be set up in South Bengal and two others in North Bengal. One such silo will be set up in Burdwan and the search is on to locate other places for setting up the infrastructure.
Recently, Rice Tech Expo was held in Burdwan where modern technology for preservation was displayed by representatives from countries like Brazil, Sweden and Norway. In normal godowns, rice can be stored for a maximum of seven months.
"The proposal in this regard will soon be forwarded to the concerned government department for approval," Mallick said.
He asserted that Bengal produces 10 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in excess and presently, 200 trucks full of rice is being exported daily to neighbouring Bangladesh through the Petrapole border.
A senior official of the department said they are setting up godowns with a total capacity of 5 lakh metric tonne by 2018 for storing foodgrains.
The minister further announced that under the instructions of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee the department will send food stock for three months to Darjeeling. "Supply of food to the Hills has been badly affected due to the indefinite bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). We have kept the ration in reserve and in the next one month, we will supply the stuff to every doorstep in the Hills," he added.
The department will put up advertisements through the media and also through
banners and posters in the Hills to apprise people that the department will be sending the three months' pending ration to the Hills.