The grievance cell of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI ) has been able to close and resolve 581 issues out of 585 received, with a proactive approach and timely redressal, according to the press statement. The task force has been taking up these issues with the respective state governments and other relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home Affairs. The task force has also been in constant touch with leading industry associations and food processors across states to address any issues or challenges the food and allied industries face so that it can run at maximum capacity. Grievances or any problems faced by food processing sector, in either disruption of production or supply chain, during nationwide Covid-19 lockdown can be mailed at covidgrievance-mofpi@gov.in.
A dedicated task force and a grievance cell were set up in the ministry, which consisted of senior officials of the ministry and members of Invest India. Industry could reach out to the grievance cell directly or through various industry associations. The major issues received at the grievance cell included issues related to plant shutdowns due to lockdown, logistics related issues, warehouse shutdown, non-availability of labor, and movement of staff and workers.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, union minister of Food Processing Industries (FPI), has chaired a series of video conferences with industry associations, cold chain developers, and exporters regularly for monitoring the situation at ground level.
The ministry received various issues during video conferencing interactions with cold chain promoters. The task force has promptly reacted and has taken up the issues with all the relevant stakeholders. Multiple steps were taken, keeping in mind the necessities of food and allied industry to recoup with the new normalcy.
MoFPI is also a member of the empowered committee on logistics and supplies. It has been working to ensure that harvested agriculture produce can be supplied to the industry so that farmers benefit. Ministry of Food Processing Industries has taken several measures to ensure that the food processing industry has been impacted minimally due to the Covid-19 crisis.
