Delisting of perishables to benefit upcoming Sonepat hub

CHANDIGARH: Competitive pricing of perishables and better gains for farmers are round the corner in Haryana, with the Congress leadership taking a serious view of public anger over price rise.

Among other major decisions after the recent electoral drubbing, comes chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s announcement delisting vegetables and fruits from the Agriculture Produce Market Committee ( APMC) Act.

The plan is to ensure lower prices for consumers, better ones for farmers and a healthy boost for inter-state trade — including India’s largest international market coming up at Sonepat.

“End of APMC Act on perishables will allow unrestricted trade across states. It will act as a catalyst,” said an official of Haryana Agricultural Marketing Board. APMC restricts agricultural trade within confines of state-regulated mandis and licensed traders get to manipulate prices by forming cartels.

“It’s the right signal. Even though many states have initiated direct marketing licensing or private terminal markets, this (freeing of perishables) will bring uniformity, curb restrictive practices and facilitate favourable price trends,” said an official at a major wholesale retail company.

Of late, Haryana has initiated infrastructural upgrade of mandis, with swanky agro-malls at Karnal, Panipat, Panchkula and Rohtak established at a cost of Rs 132 crore.

First phase of the Sonepat terminal starts this fiscal and it will be fully operational by 2018. It is aimed at tapping into business currently managed at Azadpur, planning to handle over two crore tonne of fruits, vegetables and dairy products per annum.

There will be specific commodity hubs, collection centres and allotted space for different states, the he Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board already having entered into agreements with neighbouring states.

All modern post-harvest facilities like washing, grading, waxing, packaging, cold storage and processing centres will be housed under one roof, apart from hotels. A dry port has also been proposed nearby by Container Corporation of India, which will allow customs clearances. It will enable export of perishables like flowers to Dubai and fruits to Europe.