Odisha’s distressed cold storage operators on strike

BHUBANESHWAR: Odisha’s cold storage operators have offered to hand over their cash-strapped units to the state government if it fails to provide a revival package and waive off loans—a longstanding demand that has now taken the shape of a strike.

The Odisha Cold Storage Association, a body of 35 cold storage owners, is seeking incentives to revive its ailing units, waiver of loans and easier credit linkage. It has urged chief minister Naveen Patnaik to intervene, claiming that it is no longer able to run these units, which were set up at an averaged investment of about Rs 7 crore.

At the heart of their problem is the failure of Odisha’s potato mission launched in 2015, which has seen the closure of several private cold storage units that had come up in hope of robust business. Twenty six of the 47 units currently operational were set up after the mission was launched, according to the association. Only 25 of these are now running.

The aim was to increase potato production in the state from 200,000 tonnes a year to 1.2 million tonnes by 2018. The state had estimated 112 new cold storages would be required to store the incremental produce. However, four years later, Odisha only produces 150,000 tonnes of potatoes while consumption remains at 1.2 million tonnes, according to Janardan Sahoo, the association’s general secretary.

“The government must take care of the under-utilisation of these units by allowing us to store cereal, pulses and forest produce like mahua flower. It is offering Rs 50 lakh grants under 10-year contracts to new warehouse, while our units remain empty,” said Sahoo. “Banks have begun attaching our homes against loan defaults. Let the government take these units and attached liabilities and run them themselves.”

Storage and sale of mahua attracts an excise duty, which cold storage owners say they can’t afford to pay. According to the association, the mahua collected in Keonjhar, Sundargh and Mayurbhanj districts is being stored in neighbouring states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand where there is no levy. Their other demands include electricity subsidy at 50%, a storage rental subsidy, and guarantee of capacity utilisation.

In January this year, these cold storage operators had gone on strike, shutting down their units for 45 days. Sahoo said they only reopened on the assurance by the state government that their concerns would be addressed after the elections were over, and that has not happened.