AN MoU was signed on Wednesday between the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS), Odisha State Agriculture Marketing Board (OSAMB) and NABARD Consultancy Services Private limited (NABCONS) for construction of 544 rural godowns which would be owned by 544 Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACs) and large Adivasi Multipurpose Cooperative Societies (lMPCS) in the State.
RCS Prasanta Kumar Pradhan, OSAMB CEO Kailash Chandra Rout and NABARD CGM SK Kale were the signatories. The rural godowns would be utilised to store paddy purchased from farmers at the PACS and lMPCS levels. An amount of Rs 83 crore has been earmarked in the State Budget in 2013-14 for construction of the godowns. The Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) would provide further financial assistance for the purpose.
The RCS would identify the sites for construction of the godowns. The RCS would make available encumbrance-free land with approach road well in advance and hand over the sites to the executive agency, the OSAMB. The NABCONS would provide project management consultancy services ensuring architectural planning and designing of the godowns and onsite monitoring of the works with a fee of 7 per cent of the actual project cost. The constructions of the 544 godowns would be completed in 2014-15 and the entire expenditure would be Rs 168 crore. The godowns would have a total capacity of storing 3.36 lakh tonnes of paddy. The MoU was signed in the presence of Cooperation and Rural Development Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh and Cooperation Secretary Bishnupada Sethi.