Bhanjanagar: As many as 18 small cold storages will be built in Ganjam district soon to help farmers and traders store vegetables and fruits. The matter came to the fore Wednesday during the inauguration of solar powered cold storage of 10 metric tonne capacity on the premises of the Regulated Market Committee (RMC) here, established at an expense of Rs 24 lakh.
Chief guest and Bhanjanagar MLA Pradyumna Kumar Nayak inaugurated the facility. Guest of honour and Bhanjanagar SubCollector-cum- Chairman of the RMC Anil Kumar Sethy said that a large cold storage will be built here for the benefit of farmers and traders under the sub-division and preparations are underway with the help of the local MLA. Project coordinator Deepak Kumar Tudu said that the construction of small cold storages was taken up on experimental basis in Rourkela.
Following its success, construction of 18 small cold storages was taken up under various RMCs in the district. One of the cold storages was inaugurated at Bhanjanagar while another at Buguda will soon be launched. The rest of the cold storages will be constructed at Berhampur, Aska and other places of the district, Tudu said.
Another guest of honour, NAC chairman Gopabandhu Mohapatra, said that vegetables can be stored in the cold storages for a minimum of seven days to a maximum period of seven months. RMC secretary Kasturi Sanyasi Raju coordinated the meeting. North Ghumusar DFO Himanshu Sekhar Mohanty, Regional Transport Officer Subhendu Ranjan Ray and ADPRO Gouri Shankar Satapathy attended the function.