Title - Railways’ perishable cargo center project yet to take off

MUMBAI: Even after three years of its announcement by railway minister Mamata Banerjee in the 2009-10 budget, the pilot project of Indian railways of creating cold storage and temperature controlled perishable cargo centres through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode is yet to take off.

Of the six pilot projects that the railways have announced, only one is functioning currently. Of the remaining five, the service provider has abandoned due to low utilization, while others are in various stages of 'under process' .

As part of the pilot project, the Kisan Vision Project, last year the railways had asked logistic-based public sector units Container Corporation of India (Concor), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), Central Railside Warehouse Company Limited (CRWC) to provide infrastructure at six locations on the Railways.

The project was intended to encourage creation of cold storage and temperature controlled perishable cargo centres through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

The centre at Nasik (Maharashtra) is functional and is handing cargo of cut flower & fruits. The facility is well equipped to move traffic by road and air. Rail clearance can also be started via Nasik road station for which there has been no demand up to now.

The proposed facility at New Azadpur (Delhi) is yet to be developed and is expected to be ready by end of June 2014. The facility at New Jalpaiguri ( West Bengal) is waiting for license from state agriculture department .

The Singur (West Bengal) unit was made functional, but due to very low utilization, the service provider has abandoned the contract. The Dankuni (West Bengal) project is under process.

The decision regarding establishment of perishable cargo centre at Murshidabad (West Bengal) is yet to be taken after detailed examination of the viability of setting such a facility.