New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS): Stating that augmentation of capacity is a continuous process, the government on Friday told the Rajya Sabha that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is operating a total of 2,199 warehouses, owned, or hired, across India.

The top three states are: Punjab has 611, followed by Haryana 297 and Uttar Pradesh 248.

"The Food Corporation of India (FCI) continuously assesses and monitors the storage capacity and based on the storage gap assessment, storage capacities are created/hired," Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

FCI augments its storage capacity through Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) Scheme; Central Sector Scheme (CSS); Construction of Silo's under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode; Hiring of godown from Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) / State Warehousing Corporations (SWCs) / State Agencies and Hiring of godown through Private Warehousing Scheme (PWS).

The state-wise number of storage unit available with FCI (Owned and Hired) as on January 1, 2022 are: Bihar has 80; Jharkhand has 48; Odisha (46); West Bengal (30); Sikkim (2); Arunachal Pradesh (15); Assam (40); Manipur (9); Nagaland (6); Tripura (7); Mizoram (6); Meghalaya (6); Delhi (6); Haryana (297); Himachal Pradesh (18); Jammu & Kashmir (26); Ladakh (6); Punjab (611); Chandigarh (1); Rajasthan (173); Uttar Pradesh (248); Uttaranchal (20); Andhra Pradesh (40); Andaman & Nicobar (1); Karnataka (62); Lakshadweep (1); Kerala (25); Tamil Nadu (68); Puducherry (3); Telangana (72); Chhattisgarh (63); Gujarat (36); Dadra Nagar Haveli & DD (0); Madhya Pradesh (36); Goa (2) and Maharashtra (89) making the total of 2,199, the Minister said.