The dedicated Covid grievance cell will provide necessary support to ensure successful continuity of business of the agri-food industry in India. Any issues being faced by the food processing industry can be sent to MoFPI’s Covid Grievance Cell.

In the wake of the steep rise in Covid-19 cases across the country, state governments have started imposing prohibitions and restrictions in order to contain the fast spread of virus.

The prohibitions and restrictions can lead to disturbance in industry related activities and keeping in view the last year’s lockdown experience , the government has issued an advisory for the food processing sector and reopened the Covid Grievance Cell that will deal with the operational issues of the sector.

The advisory says, “Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India, through its grievance cell supported by Invest India, is committed to ensure hassle-free operations of the food processing sector and uninterrupted supply of essentials for citizens. Any issues being faced by the food processing industry can be sent to MoFPI’s Covid Grievance Cell at the below mentioned email id. email: covidgrievance-mofpi@gov.in.”

The advisory adds, “We would like to assure our commitment to all food processing and related industries. The dedicated grievance cell will provide necessary support to ensure successful continuity of business of the agri-food industry in India.”

According to an official familiar with the subject matter, the experience of last year’s lockdown will help dealing with any contingency this time. The industry can share the related grievances on the mail id and will be responded to.  Nearly 580 such issues were resolved last year.

There was a task force made last year, having MoFPI and Invest India officials. The state government officials were also on board. The same task force will deal with the situation.

“Last year, the states were operating differently initially. Some states didn’t take the food processing industry into their guidelines for opening of operations. Later with the Union Government intervention the industry got included and allowed operations,” states the official and adds, “This year we are expecting a much streamlined approach because of our experience. There was one industry consultation held recently related to Delhi and we are ready to deal with the situation.”