Fatehpur grain market yard finds few takers, shops remain vacant

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, July 15

The regulated vegetable and grain marketing yard, built by the state Agriculture Department in Fatehpur during the Virbhadra Singh government, has become a white elephant as almost all shops have been lying vacant for the past two years. The government had spent Rs 3.87 crore on the yard.

The shops and the godowns built in the yard have failed to attract the unemployed youth. The high monthly rent and lack of facilities have kept entrepreneurs away from this yard. The yard was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on January 14, 2017. The present government has failed to take any steps to make it operational. Initially, the yard had become functional in September 2017, when all shops were rented out. However, due to the high monthly rent, all lessees left.

The yard has eight shops to run the wholesale sabzi mandi and 10 godowns of the grain market. Only two vegetable shops with a Rs 2,500 monthly rent and two godowns have been leased out for Rs 10,000 per month. Most of the shops and the godowns are locked for the want of lessees.

The Agriculture Department, which has to run this yard through the State Agriculture Marketing Board (SAMB), has failed to provide any facility in the yard to attract entrepreneurs. Jeet Sharma, president, Fatehpur block Congress, criticised the state for neglecting the pro-farmer project and demanded that steps be taken to make it functional.

Raj Kumar Bhardwaj, secretary, Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), Kangra, said a proposal for reducing the rent of the shops and providing the cold storage facility in the yard had been submitted to the SAMB.

Sanjay Upadhaya, lone director of the SAMB from Kangra, said he had given a proposal to reduce the monthly rent during the meeting of the SAMB for making it functional.