FCI eyes office in State
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, August 17 2013 :
FCI depot manager in-charge Ph Bhisma has stated they have been urging the Government of India to open an FCI regional office at Imphal and also to augment the capacity of FCI Jiribam depot to 10,000 metric tonnes.
Speaking to some media persons today, Bhisma said that a single trip of train from Lumding to Jiribam brings 730 metric tonnes of rice in a month while it requires three trips of escorted truck convoys to transport rice from Jiribam to Imphal in a month.
When the train from Lum-ding arrive at Jiribam 7/8 times in a month, rice thus brought could not be stocked in the FCI Jiribam godown alone as its capacity is only 5000 metric tonnes.
The additional quantity of rice used to be stored in the railways go-down by paying damage charge.
At the same time, trucks transporting for FCI did not go to Jiribam daily.
They went in convoys with security escorts and each convoy included around 300 trucks.
But these 300 or so trucks were never enough to mitigate the pressure on Jiribam godown.
With no space available for stocking rice in the depot, FCI officials often found it difficult to remove rice from the train within seven hours of arrival which is the norm.
As such, FCI and transport contractors have been paying Rs 150 to the railway authority per hour for each rack.
Highlighting all these pro-blems, the Government of In- dia has been asked to enhance the existing capacity of the depot to 10,000 metric ton-nes, conveyed Bhisma.
In addition, a formal proposal has been sent to the relevant authority for opening an FCI regional office at Imphal.
Once the office is opened, all official procedures can be accelerated including communication for holding tender for appointment of transport contractors.
Moreover, if the regional office is opened, there would be two area managers, one at Imphal and the other at Jiribam.
However, the FCI is currently facing shortage of staff and there is urgent need for recruitment of some more staff, asserted the depot manager in-charge.
He maintained that there was no question of supplying damp or wet rice from the depot.
The approach road which leads to the Jiribam railway track for loading rice on trucks has worn out to the extreme.
On account of the worn out conditions, many loaded trucks often get stuck.
Even as the railways authority has been approached to repair the road, there has been no response till date, he added.