Warehouse Construction Scheme (NABARD) — Chhattisgarh

What is the Warehouse Construction Scheme (NABARD) in Chhattisgarh?

Warehouse Construction Scheme (NABARD) is a scheme of the Cooperation Department (Sahakarita Vibhag), Government of Chhattisgarh, listed on the department's official scheme page at coop.cg.gov.in. The department's description sets out the whole design in one line: construction of 200 MT capacity warehouse-cum-office buildings for 100 warehouse-deficient societies with a total cost of Rs 21.11 crore.

The funding pattern is split by region:

The heavier subsidy for Sarguja and Bastar reflects the weaker financial base of societies in Chhattisgarh's tribal-majority divisions, where Tribal Service Cooperative Societies and LAMPS operate and where the department separately runs a managerial grant for loss-making Primitive Tribe Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies.

Warehouse Construction Scheme (NABARD) is an institutional infrastructure scheme. No individual applies, no cash reaches a farmer, and there is no portal registration. The applicant is the cooperative society.

Why do Chhattisgarh's cooperative societies need warehouses?

Chhattisgarh's 2,058 Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies and LAMPS are the working end of the state's paddy economy. The Cooperation Department states that PACS play an important role in procuring paddy at the support price, and that societies also distribute fertiliser, seeds and pesticides and in many villages run the Public Distribution System outlet.

Each of those functions needs storage. A society running a procurement centre has to hold paddy until it is lifted. A society distributing fertiliser has to hold stock before the sowing rush. A society running a PDS outlet has to hold foodgrain allotments. A society without a warehouse does all of this in rented space, in the open, or not at all, and a society without an office has no place to keep the ledgers that the department audits.

That is why the scheme funds a warehouse-cum-office building rather than a bare godown. One 200 MT structure fixes storage and administration together.

The scheme also feeds a much larger national programme. According to the Cooperation Department, all 725 warehouses of 200 MT capacity currently under construction in the state under the RIDF scheme have been included by the Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India, in the World's Largest Decentralized Grain Storage Plan in the Cooperative Sector, which brings together procurement centres, custom hiring centres, primary processing centres, rural haats and grain storage through convergence of AIF, AMI, SWAM, MIDH, PMFME and PMKSY.

Who is eligible, and who is excluded?

Eligible:

• Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies registered under the Chhattisgarh Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 that are functional and audited.
• Societies identified by the Cooperation Department as warehouse-deficient, meaning they have no storage facility of their own.
• Societies that own, or hold clear title to, land on which the 200 MT structure can be built.
• Societies able to put up their own share to 10 per cent in Sarguja and Bastar, 20 per cent elsewhere.

Not eligible and cannot apply:

• Individual farmers, traders and entrepreneurs. This scheme creates no personal benefit and has no individual application route. A farmer who wants a private godown should look at NABARD's or the Ministry of Agriculture's warehousing credit and subsidy lines instead, not at this scheme.
• Societies that already have adequate storage. The stated target is warehouse-deficient societies.
• Non-functional, dormant or liquidated societies, which cannot pass a valid board resolution or maintain the asset.
• Societies without clear land title. A structure cannot be sanctioned on disputed or encroached land.
• Societies unable or unwilling to bring their contribution. The 10 or 20 per cent share is a condition, not a formality.

What documents does a society need?

How to apply for a warehouse under the scheme

There is no online form. The route runs through the cooperative administration.

1. The society passes a board resolution recording that it has no warehouse, that it owns suitable land, and that it will bring its 10 or 20 per cent contribution.
2. The society prepares the proposal, land record, registration certificate, latest audited accounts and a cost estimate for the 200 MT warehouse-cum-office building, and submits it to the District Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
3. The district office verifies the warehouse-deficient status and forwards the proposal to the Commissioner, Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Raipur.
4. The Cooperation Department sanctions the case within the scheme's outlay of Rs 21.11 crore for 100 societies, applying the 90:10 pattern for Sarguja and Bastar and 80:20 for the other divisions.
5. The society deposits its own share and construction begins against the technical sanction, with instalments released as the work reaches each stage.
6. The society takes the asset on its books and maintains it, using the office portion for its records and the 200 MT space for procurement, input stock and PDS grain.

How to check the status of a warehouse proposal

1. Ask the District Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies for the proposal's file reference and its stage.
2. Ask for the sanction order once issued; it records the approved cost and the society's contribution.
3. Follow release of instalments against stage completion certificates — delays at this point are the most common cause of stalled construction.
4. Escalate to the Commissioner and Registrar's office in Raipur on 0771-2511920 if the district level does not respond.

Why proposals get rejected or stall

• Land title is not clean. Land shown in a member's name, on Gram Panchayat land without transfer, or under dispute cannot carry a sanctioned structure.
• The society is not actually warehouse-deficient, because an older godown exists on its books.
• Audit is in arrears. A society whose statutory audit under the 1960 Act is pending is unlikely to clear scrutiny.
• Own contribution not deposited, which holds up the first release.
• No functioning board. Where an elected board is not in existence, the department makes arrangements for the society's functioning, and a proposal should be routed through that arrangement rather than left pending.

Where to raise a grievance

• District Deputy Registrar / Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies in the society's district.
• Office of the Commissioner, Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Raipur to 0771-2511920; Additional Commissioner 0771-2511923.
• Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Bank (Apex Bank), Raipur, general helpline 0771-2539690 to where the financing tier is involved.
• The Cooperation Department also hears disputes involving societies, office bearers and members as a civil court under the Chhattisgarh Cooperative Societies Act, 1960.

Related schemes a society should look at together

The Cooperation Department runs a parallel Upgradation of PACS to Multi-Purpose Cooperative Societies scheme, which gives a grant of Rs 10 lakh for projects of up to Rs 25 lakh, once per eligible society, so that a PACS can take up non-traditional business. A society building a warehouse under this scheme often uses that grant to put the storage to commercial use. All 2,058 PACS in the state have already adopted the model bye-laws that allow multi-purpose activity across more than 25 sectors including warehousing.