Food Corporation of India trade unions upset at government's policies

NEW DELHI: Labour and trade unions of Food Corporation of India, upset at the government's policies, which they think tend to favour the private sector, staged a demonstration in front of the FCI headquarters on Thursday, opposing the implementation of winding up of the corporation's activities in traditional procurement states, drastic reduction in coverage of National Food Security Act, etc.

The unions are unhappy with the report submitted by the high-level committee headed by senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar on the restructuring of the corporation, and could even resort to a strike, said JS Duggal, president of Bhartiya Khadya Nigam Karamchari Sangh.

“The government is looking at the report on liquidating and outsourcing some core activities of FCI, including its various establishments like zonal offices to favour private players and other small organisations with less productivity and higher percentage of grain losses than the corporation,” Duggal said.

He further added that some companies are already eyeing FCI-owned land. “In Whitefield and Bellary near Bangalore, Adani Group has started assessment for construction of silos, ahead of any tender,” Duggal said. Adani officials, however, refuted such charges. “We have built our own silos since 2007 and will explore opportunities when the state comes out with tenders,” said an official.

Adani has silos in Moga in Punjab, Kaithal in Haryana, Malur in Bangalore and Taloja in Maharashtra, apart from Coimbatore, Chennai and Kolkata.

The committee's recommendation to introduce negotiable warehouse receipt systems which had been introduced in the early sixties through the Central Warehouse Corporation was also opposed. “The scheme failed in the past as the financial conditions and agriculture holding in our country are not suitable to such a system,” said MC Tyagi, all India general secretary of the union, which represents more than 60% of FCI’s workforce.

Labour union leaders also expressed fears of the government's labour policy, especially the suggestion that FCI should be made leaner and nimble by scaling down, or by abolishing zonal offices (Noida, Mumbai, Chennai, Guwhati and Kolkata). The unions opposed the recommendation, arguing it wasn't necessary. “Dismantling zonal offices will impact the functioning of a region. This is not a viable situation,” Duggal added.