The government has sanctioned 101 new integrated cold chain projects across 20 States. The companies whose proposals have been approved include Halidram, Bectors Food, Balmer Lawrie, Cremica and milk cooperatives Kaira, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha among others.

Of the 101 cold chains sanctioned, 53 are for processing fruits and vegetables, 33 for dairy products and 15 for meat, marine and poultry items. Close to half of the projects are in three States — 21 in Maharashtra, 14 in Uttar Pradesh and 12 in Gujarat.

The cold chain projects will leverage a total investment of ₹3,100 crore for creation of modern infrastructure for the food processing sector. The total expected grant-in-aid for these projects is ₹838 crore, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said at a press conference here on Monday, adding that 50 more projects would be cleared soon. The Ministry said the 101 projects are out of 145 shortlisted from the 308 Expressions of Interest (EoIs) received.

“The companies have been given 18-24 months to complete the projects, after which there will be a monthly penalty deduction of 1 per cent from the grant,” said Badal, adding that the grant would be up to ₹10 crore per project.

The 101 cold chains will add capacity of 2.76 lakh tonnes of cold/controlled atmosphere/frozen storage, 115 tonne per hour of individual quick freezing capacity, 56 lakh litres per day of milk processing, 210 tonne per batch of blast freezing and will include 629 refrigerated/insulated vehicles, the Ministry said. The announcement comes in the backdrop of a recent report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture noting that the Ministry had not taken up any new project in 2016-17. The Ministry said it had invited proposals for setting up 100 cold chain projects on August 31, 2016, after which the House panel urged it to expedite the process. The 2017-18 Budget has allocated the Ministry ₹180 crore for the cold chain scheme.

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