The Union Food and Public Distribution Ministry has suggested major amendments to the Warehousing (Development and Regulation) Act of 2007. While the Ministry says that the aim is to help farmers get access to the service of quality warehouses, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) fears that the amendments are for bringing back certain provisions of the repealed the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act through the backdoor. An official in the Ministry said the amendment was to make registration of godowns compulsory and to raise the penalty for various offences and to do away with the jail term as a punishment for the offences.
At present, the registration with the Warehousing Development and Regulation Authority (WDRA) is optional. After the proposed amendment, which is yet to be cleared by the Cabinet, registration of all third party warehouses throughout the country will be undertaken in a phased manner. “The Central government will have powers to exempt any class of warehouses from registration with the Authority. This will ensure a gradual and non-disruptive change to a regulated warehousing system,” the official said here on Wednesday.
The WDRA was established in 2010 to ensure scientific storage by prescribing infrastructural and procedural standards. Captive warehouses such as those of the Food Corporation of India are excluded from the ambit of the Act. The Act wants to establish a system of negotiable and non-negotiable warehouse receipt (NWR) which is now in electronic form. The official said the Centre wanted to make NWR a tool of trade to improve fiduciary trust of depositors and banks in Negotiable Warehouse Receipt System.
