Govt. approves setting up of National Centre for Cold Chain Development

The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its ex-post facto approval for registering the National Centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD) as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 with its memorandum of association and rules and regulations.

"All stakeholders will be having membership in the society in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode," said a cabinet release.

"The NCCD will be having a Governing Council under the Chairmanship of Secretary with 22 members, covering government officials, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), growers, cold chain equipment manufacturers/supplies etc.," the release adds.

A sum of Rs.25 crore has been allocated as one time grant for setting up a corpus fund for NCCD.

With a production of 71.5 million MT of fruits, 133.7 million MT of vegetables and 17.8 million MT of other commodities like flowers, spices, coconut, cashew, mushroom, honey etc., India is the second largest producer of horticultural commodities in the world.

However, a significant portion of the produce, particularly perishables like fruits, vegetables, flowers etc. goes waste due to post harvest losses.

In order to address this issue the task force on cold chain development was constituted by Government of India during 2008. The task force, in its report, recommended the formation of a dedicated institution for promoting cold chain development in the country.

The National Spot Exchange (NSE), in its study on cold chain grid in India (2010) also recommended the need for a robust cold chain infrastructure for reducing the post harvest losses of perishables. (ANI)