Union Budget 2011: Cold Storage classified as infrastructure sector

SILIGURI: Finance Minister has proposed to classify Cold Storage as Infrastructure sector. Mr Mukesh Kr. Agarwal, Honorary Secretary of Federation of Cold Storage Associations finds it as a positive move. “This will widen funding avenues for cold storages as infrastructure is a priority sector,” he said.

“However, in addition to this, Government should come up with some mechanism to develop a national level map of need vs storage capacity of regions. Many regions in the country, storage facility has already reached its saturation level while many other regions are highly lacking,” he added.

In India, UP hosts around 2000 cold storages, highest in the country and West Bengal comes at the second position with around 650cold storages, informed Mr Agarwal.