15 yrs on, Amritsar mandi lacks basic facilities

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 12

Shifted from the city to Vallah area here with the promise of state-of-the-art facilities 15 years ago, the wholesale vegetable and fruit market lacks even basic amenities and sufficient sheds.

Annoyed farmers, commission agents and traders are blaming the government for lack of proper facilities.

Serving consumers of border cities of Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Batala, the market sells and receives fresh farm produce from across the country — Kashmir to Andhra Pradesh and from Gujarat to West Bengal.

The wholesale market, spread over 92 acres, is devoid of pucca roads, toilets, potable water, Kisan Bhawan to offer stay houses for growers and farmers, cold storage and fruit ripening plant. The traders here deal in over 500 tonnes of fresh farm produce daily.

Squalid conditions such as ankle-deep slush, offering unhygienic environment to fresh farm produce, compromise with the basic norm.

Arvinder Singh, a commission agent, said: “The government earns over Rs10 crore annually from the wholesale market, but it has little to showcase when it comes to its development.”

He rued that they could neither repair their shops nor extend these as the Army, which had ammunition depot in the area, had issued a notification on November 11, 2004 — when the market started shifting from the congested city to Vallah — banning any construction in the 1,000 yards parapet.

Palas Saha, a trader from West Bengal’s Bardwan district, said he came here to procure apples, but he was astonished at the unhygienic conditions in the mandi, highlighting its poor management.

Gurjinder Singh, a vegetable grower from Jandiala, said: “As we don’t have the facility of cold storage here, we are compelled to sell the produce on the same day. Hence, we are unable to get fair price for our products.”

Consumers rued that promised fruit ripening plant was also not installed in the market, compelling people to use unauthorised chemicals.

Amardeep Singh Kaura, Secretary of Market Committee, said neither excavation for laying sewerage nor brick work was allowed in the restricted area of the mandi. He said no promised development works had been initiated in the past so many years. “We are ready to relocate, provided the district administration provides at least 50 acres for the purpose,” he added.