Two schemes started by Assam Government to construct subsidised godowns and rice mills

The Assam Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (AFCSCL) will act as an implementing agency for executing two schemes policy.

This has been started in a bid to construct godowns and rice mills with a 50 percent subsidy of the total cost. It is to be noted that any of them are not exceeding Rs. 40 lakh under the Government of Assam.

The schemes aim at boosting paddy procurement in the state. According to an AFCSCL official, to augment paddy procurement in the state, the State Government is implementing a scheme to boost godown infrastructure. The Government has planned to construct 110 godowns in the state. It has already issued letters of intent.

As published in media reports, according to the official, the capacities of the planned godowns will be 500 Metric Tonnes, 1,000 Metric Tonnes and 2,000 MT. The government has set the target of completing 50 such godowns by December this year.

Media sources have revealed that the Government has also extended subsidies from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 40 lakh for each rice mill. The Assam Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (AFCSCL) has already erected 150 rice mills used in the 2021-22 Kharif Marketing season. According to the official, 50 more rice mills will come up in 24 districts in the state.

As revealed by media reports, in the month of August, 2022 the Government of Assam had decided to sponsor setting up 1000 mini rice mills under the  Agricultural and Infrastructure Fund.

The Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma then held a meeting with the officials of Agriculture Department and Chief Minister’s Samagra Gramya Unnayan Yojana and discussed several key initiatives aimed at supporting the needs of farmers at the grassroot level.

To improve the godown infrastructure in the state the Central Government is also implementing a central sector scheme for the construction of godowns with focus on augmenting storage capacity in the states of Northeastern region. The scheme will also be operative in a few other States like Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Kerela.

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