Mamata Banerjee will be taking the public-private partnership route (PPP) to set up a one-stop shop for agro retailers,wholesalers,consumers and farmers willing to buy farming tools, seeds and fertilizer. Mamata times her move when the Centre seems set to throw open the agri-retail sector to FDI.
The proposed mall, off EM Bypass at Bantala, will be set up by the West Bengal Agro Industries Development Corporation. The mall will set up around 370 kisan mundis that the chief minister has already announced.
The Centre had in 2005-06 advocated for this under the National Horticulture Mission(NHM).It didn’t find any takers. In 2009,the Union agriculture ministry again introduced “Terminal Markets Complex” scheme which not only provided subsidy for states setting this up,but also allowed for a PPP route. If the Bengal project takes-off, it is expected to be only the third-of-its-kind in the country after the Hariali Bazar in Kurukshetra (a private initiative) and Ahmedabad’s Kisan Bazar(a government initiative).Set to be completed by 2015 at an estimated cost of Rs 25 crore on the 5.5 acres plot of Agro Corporation,it has already generated interest.
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