NEW DELHI: Union home and cooperation minister Amit Shah Monday called for deeper involvement of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in the govt’s foodgrain storage scheme, terming it essential for their financial stability and social relevance. At a review meeting of the world’s largest cooperative foodgrain storage initiative, Shah directed food and public distribution ministry and Food Corporation of India to carry out national-level warehouse mapping to align infrastructure with regional needs. He asked FCI, NCCF, NAFED and state warehousing bodies to link PACS with more warehouses and urged states to bring more PACS into the scheme. State-level marketing federations should be integrated to build a complete cooperative supply chain, Shah said. He stressed on extending Agriculture Infrastructure Fund’s loan period to help PACS financially. Shah called the scheme a major step towards the PM’s vision of “sahkar se samriddhi,” aiming to boost rural employment. TNN
