(a) whether any steps have been taken by the Government to construct an already approved FCI godown with a capacity of 25,000 metric tonnes, adjacent to railway siding in Madurai which was included in the 1998-99 annual plan;
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(b) if so, the details thereof; and
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(c) if not, the reasons therefore and the time by which the construction work of the godown is likely to be started?
AN S W E R
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION( SHRI SRIRAM CHAUHAN )
(a), (b) & (c): The construction of 25000 MT capacity godown at Villangudi near Madurai was approved by the Board of Directors of the Food Corporation of India during June, 1996. The construction of 5000 MT capacity godown at this center was initially included in the Annual Plan 1998-99 of the FCI. However, on review by the Board of Directors of FCI in January, 1999 the Centre at Villangudi was dropped in view of adequate storage capacity already available with the Central Warehousing Corporation in the Madurai Region.