Pradhan urges Paswan not to merge CWC Bhubaneswar with Patna

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has urged his cabinet colleague Ram Vilas Paswan not to proceed with the proposed merger of Bhubaneswar Central Warehouse Corporation (CWC) with Patna region.

Pradhan wrote a letter to Paswan the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and sought his personal intervention and direct the concerned officials for calling off the merger of CWC Bhubaneswar region with CWC Patna region in the larger interest of the people of Odisha.

"In consideration of the vital support provided by the Bhubaneswar region to the state in times of natural disasters such as floods and cyclones, it is imperative that the current CWC Bhubaneswar region be not merged with CWC Patna region due to geographical and administrative burdens," Pradhan said in his letter dated August 3 which was released to media on Monday.

Pradhan's letter to Paswan came to the fore after Odisha's Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister R P Swain making similar request to the Centre. Swain had written the letter to stop merger in the wake of several MLAs cutting across party lines expressed concern over the proposal.

Pradhan said the CWC Bhubaneswar regional office was established in 1990 after bifurcation from Patna region to tackle geographical challenges, increase administrative efficiency and monitoring in affairs.

He said currently, 21 warehouses in the Bhubaneswar region have an operational capacity of 3.48 MT and have been running at 90 per cent occupancy with consistent profitability.

"It is worth noting that over 90 per cent of the staff at the regional office are Odias," Pradhan said in the letter.

He pointed out that the Bhubaneswar regional office of CWC is playing a crucial role in storage and warehousing of various essential commodities of Food Corporation of India (FCI) as well as Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSSC) which have provided crucial assistance during disaster relief situations in the state such as the recent cyclone Fani.