A Parliamentary panel today pulled up the government for regional imbalance in sanctioning of cold chain projects as most of them are located in states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab.
The panel also suggested the government to enhance subsidy for entrepreneurs for setting up of cold chain infrastructure in rural areas.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture made the above observation in a report that reviewed actions taken by the government on recommendations made by the committee in 2016-17 with regard to a scheme on integrated cold chain and value addition infrastructure.
In its report placed before Parliament today, the committee chairperson Hukmdev Narayan Yadav said, "There is regional imbalance in sanctioning of cold chain projects..."
Major chunks of projects are in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Uttarakhand, while states such as Bihar, Odisha, Telangana,Chattisgarh have been "neglected".
"The committee feels that this imbalance should be removed," Yadav said and suggested that the food processing minisrtry should publicise the scheme in print and electronic media to increase awareness.
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The panel also asked the government to conduct a survey to find out the reasons for poor response to the scheme in these states and take corrective measures.
Though the scheme was launched in 2008 but its benefits has not yet percolated to the grassroots level, particularly to the small and marginal farmers, it said in the report.
The scheme has been revised now and brought under new scheme called SAMPADA with a component on backward and forward linkages and facilitate farmers with farm level infrastructure.
To ensure the scheme benefits small and marginal farmers, the panel suggested the government to implement it in rural areas and also increase subsidy for entrepreneurs to develop cold chain infrastructure in rural areas.
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