The Centre has approved construction of one crore tonne capacity silos for storage of foodgrains by the end of year 2019-20. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha , Minister of State for Consumers, Food and Public Distribution, C.R. Chaudhary said, these silos will be constructed by Food Corporation of India,FCI as well as State Governments in Public Private Partnership mode in a phased manner. FCI handles about six crore tonnes of wheat and rice annually. He said, silos are safer and modern means of foodgrains storage. He said, in these silos, foodgrains can be stored for a longer period, with reduced losses and less handling and labour costs.