Cold storage project yet to take off at APMC

Aurangabad, Feb 4:

The work of the proposed cold storage in the premises of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) at Jadhavwadi has not started even after eight months. Even after the company paid Rs 1.60 crore as lease premium, the work has not yet started.

A cold storage project has been undertaken to keep the various fruits and vegetables coming to the premises of the APMC in good condition for a longer period of time. It was not possible for the market committee to spend large sums of money for this project. Therefore, the then board of director has decided to set up this project through a private organization. For this, 3,227 square meters of land has been leased to a private company at the rate of Rs 5 per square foot for 30 years. The concerned company has paid Rs 1.60 crore as lease premium to the committee. The annual rent will be Rs 75,000.

Meanwhile, APMC officials informed that the construction of the project has been going on for the last eight months. It was also informed that the concerned company has applied to the municipal corporation for building permission, but no work has been started on the site yet. Therefore, the question arises as to when the construction of cold storage will start and when this project will be completed. Meanwhile, sources in the market committee said that follow-up is underway to get the project started early and complete it expeditiously. Meanwhile, the market committee elections were not held due to coronavirus infection. The government appointed an administrator to the market committee. It is believed that this has delayed the construction of the cold storage project.

Fruit, vegetable producers to benefit from the project

Aurangabad and Jalna districts have a large number of fruit producers. At present, nearly 30 per cent of the product has to be thrown out because of not being kept in proper condition. The cold storage facility will be a great convenience to the fruit producers. At the same time, vegetable production is also taken in large quantities in the nearby areas. The project will be beneficial for storage of vegetables.