CWC should provide more services and be competitive: Paswan

Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today asked the state-owned Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) to be competitive and provide complete logistic services to customers and not only storage facilities.
Addressing the foundation day of the CWC, the minister said the corporation has made a significant progress since its formation in 1957.
"From 7,000 tonnes of capacity with 7 warehouses, CWC has increased its capacity to 108 lakh tonnes and 464 warehouses. The organisation has done a good job," Paswan said.
Expressing satisfaction that the CWC was in profit, he said the corporation achieved a profit before tax of Rs 256 crore over a turnover of Rs 1,528 crore during 2013-14.

However, he said that providing storage facilities was not enough as traders seek all facilities and not merely godowns.
Paswan noted that the customers want facilities like insurance, safety, warehousing receipt for bank loans, custom clearance and duty payments among others.

"Customers/traders will go to the place where maximum facilities are being provided at the cheapest rate," he said.
To achieve higher growth, Paswan said the CWC should boost the morale of its 4,500 employees and consider linking the performance with profits to boost their morales.
The minister directed the CWC to provide basic facilities to labourers working at its godowns within three months as there have been complaints in this regards. He also said that the CWC should focus on cleanliness.

Speaking at the event, Food Secretary Sudhir Kumar said the CWC should improve services as per the current requirement and assured all support from the government.
CWC is operating 464 Warehouses across the country with a storage capacity of 10.8 million tonnes providing warehousing services for a wide range of products ranging from agricultural produce to sophisticated industrial products.
Warehousing activities of CWC include foodgrain warehouses, industrial warehousing, custom bonded warehouses, container freight stations, inland clearance depots and aircargo complexes.