(a) whether the Government have any plan to introduce cold chain/carriage system to
facilitate the transit/procurement and marketing of fresh vegetables, fruits, milk and other
fast perishable food items;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the number of proposals received from various States in this regard; and
(d) the action taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE (SHRI SHRIPAD Y. NAIK)
(a) to (d): The Government through the National Horticulture Board (NHB), an
autonomous body under the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation is implementing,
inter-alia, the following schemes namely,
(i) Development of Commercial Horticulture
through Post Harvest Management since May, 2000; and
(ii) the Capital Investment
Subsidy Scheme for Construction/Modernisation/Expansion of cold Storages and Storages
for Horticulture Produce since 1999. Some of the post-harvest components under the
scheme mentioned at
(i) above include setting up of Refer vans/containers; pre-cooling
units and cool stores, etc. Under this scheme, back-ended capital investment subsidy @
not exceeding 20% of the total project cost with a maximum limit of Rs.25.00 lakh tonnes
per project is provided. For the North-Eastern/Tribal/Hilly areas maximum limit of subsidy
is Rs.30.00 lakhs per project. Prior to introduction of this scheme, the NHB had been
implementing a scheme named `Integrated Project on Management of Post Harvest
Infrastructure of Horticulture Crops` under which financial assistance for procuring
refrigerated transport vehicle by the eligible beneficiary were also provided. The details of
soft loan released, State-wise under the scheme during 1992-93 to 1999-2000 are given in
Annexure-I.
Under the scheme for construction/modernisation/expansion of cold storages and
storages for horticulture produce, back-ended capital investment subsidy @ 25% of the
project cost subject to a maximum limit of Rs.50.00 lakhs and @ 33.33% subject to a
maximum of Rs.60.00 lakhs in the case of North-Eastern States is provided by NHB
through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and National
Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) in case of projects involving loan. In case
of projects fully funded by entrepreneurs from his own resources, subsidy is directly
released by NHB. The details of the number of proposals sanctioned (State-wise) under
the scheme are given in Annexure-II.
ANNEXURE-I
STATE-WISE INFRASTRUCTURE SANCTIONED UNDER POST-HARVEST
MANAGEMENT SCHEME DURING 1992-93 TO 1999-2000 (31.03.2000)
S.No. Name of the State Refrigerated Amount of soft loan Transport Vehicle released (Rs. in lakhs) (in nos.)
1. Gujarat 3 14.00
2. U.P. 1 5.00
3. H.P. 6 30.00
4. Punjab 14 55.00
5. Delhi 4 19.95 6. Andhra Pradesh 4 20.00
7 Karnataka 4 17.30
8. Maharashtra 15 67.85
9. Tamil Nadu 1 5.00 Total 52 234.10
ANNEXURE-II
STATE-WISE PROJECTS SANCTIONED UNDER CAPITAL INVESTMENT SUBSIDY SCHEME ON COLD STORAGES/ONION GODOWNS – UPTO 31ST MARCH, 2001.
S.No. State NABARD NCDC NHB
1. Gujarat 24 - 3
2. Orissa 3 2 -
3. Madhya Pradesh 24 3 -
4. Andhra Pradesh 18 - -
5. Maharashtra 9 1 1 6. Punjab 24 - -
7 Haryana 6 - 2
8. Tamil Nadu 14 - -
9. Assam 1 1 - 10. Rajasthan 22 - - 11. Uttar Pradesh 91 1 4 12. Karnataka 7 - 1 13. Tripura - 1 - 14. West Bengal - 6 1 15. Bihar - 2 - 16. Delhi - - 1 Total 243 17 13