Ever since the three farm bills were passed in both the houses of the Parliament, farmers have been holding several protests across the country. Protest doesn’t seem to be getting over in the national capital.
At a time when the farm bills are the most-talked subject in India at present, a decade-old picture of a grain silo owned by Adani Agri Logistics Limited has gone viral on the internet.
The picture, which is doing the rounds on social media, claims that Adani Agri has set up a grain silo in Punjab’s Moga within days of the passing of farm bills. A silo is a giant steel structure used to store grains for a longer duration.
One such claim in the Hindi language uploaded on Twitter translates into English as, “The Bill has gone to the President, the rest is in Parliament but preparations for Adani have already begun. Congress and BJP will leave farmers completely ruined. ”
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that people are being misled over the image. Adani Agri Logistics Ltd. is actually more than a decade old, with commissioned silos in seven cities including Moga in Punjab.
Similar misleading claims were also shared on Facebook. It has been learnt that the company was established in 2007. Since then it has been in collaboration with the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The company runs silos at Moga in Punjab and Kaithal in Haryana to store grains.
Since 2007, farmers have been selling their produce to the company and FCI pays for the farmers. The grains are stored in steel silos to preserve their freshness and quality until they are further transported to field depots and later to open markets, according to FCI instructions.
It was also learnt that Adani Agri Logistics mentioned in multiple news reports which confirmed that the grain silo in question was not a recent construction.
According to a Financial Express report published on October 18, 2008, FCI entered a build, own, and operate (BOO) agreement for 20 years with Adani Agri for setting up silos at Moga and Kaithal in 2005.
The report further mentions that the company also has five field depots at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Navi Mumbai, and Hoogly.
We also found reports on Adani Agri Logistics published by BusinessLine and Mint. The Mint report, published in 2015, also mentions the inception of Adani Agri silo in the year 2007.
Hence, it is clear that the Adani Agri Logistics is in existence in India since 2007 and is not a recent development.
