New Delhi [India], January 21 (ANI): The Department of Food and Public Distribution has developed a roadmap to roll out Online Storage Management (OSM) in the country, which aims to put in place a single source of information for food grains stored in the country for the central pool through integration of state portals with the central portal.

As per the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, the OSM will develop an ecosystem of storage management applications across the DCP States, each being capable of capturing the Minimum Storage Specifications (MSS). These MSSs , which have been identified through intense and elaborate discussions with the concerned States and FCI are : capability to compute storage capacity , depict storage point-wise stock position (crop year-wise break up of stocks held , depiction of OB, issues and CB), stack-wise, truck-wise linkage (stack wise details of stock position , truck wise information ), quality parameters (infestation details , treatment details).

"This would help in route optimization for distribution as well," said the ministry.

In a meeting held on January 21 this year, under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Food), Government of India and attended by Food Secretaries of all DCP States, Food Corporation of India (FCI) made a presentation on the progress in the initiative. During the presentation, it was emphasized that the states shall build their respective portals in a collaborative mode, to ensure that the best practices can be imbibed and disseminated among the States.

In the meeting, the sixteen (16) States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have reassured of their commitment to develop/implement storage management applications with MSSs and integrate them with the central portal.

This exercise, expected to be completed by March this year, will improve efficiency and transparency in stocking, storage, movement and distribution of foodgrains. It will help in driving down costs of food storage and distribution by checking leakages in the entire process. It will also enable the Government with readily available information for both monitoring and fast-paced decision making to benefit the stakeholders, especially PDS consumers (ANI)