Nuagaon: The agriculture and horticulture departments have locked horns with the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) over the locked cold storages in Sundargarh district.
The farmers of this block are producing huge quantities of tomatoes, beans, brinjals and capsicum. As these vegetables are perishable they find it difficult to sell outside, and have no other choice but make distress sales to middlemen.
The two cold storages in Nuagaon block are now locked up. The ITDA had set up a mini cold storage in this block, but that was not enough to meet the needs of farmers.
In 2013-14, the horticulture department and the ITDA jointly established another cold storage at a cost of Rs 36 lakh. This is also now locked up although construction is complete.
The lack of foresight of the authorities has resulted in the closure of both the cold storages. Before setting up the cold storages proper thought should have been given to peripheral issues, farmers said. “The inertia of the government on local issues has put us into trouble,” they added.
Nuagaon junior agriculture officer Pruthviraj Mund said, “The cold storages were established jointly by the horticulture department and ITDA. Only they can explain why they are closed now.”
Junior horticulture officer S Pathak said, “We had only provided financial assistance to ITDA for establishing the cold storages. It is now under the management of a committee.”
Farmers Anil Ekka, Subodh Oram and Bhuna Sahu strongly protested against the locking up of the cold storages.
PNN