VISHVENDU JAIPURIAR
Chatra, June 29: The biggest demand of the farmers in Chatra is a cold storage in each and every block as the district is known for growing and supplying green vegetables to many states. A cold storage built at Rs 8 crore having a storage capacity of 5000 metric tons is lying unused since 2021 due to lack of power connection.
A farmer said the construction of cold storages is taking place in other blocks and a few have been completed. But this one is the biggest and with modern technology having a 5000 metric ton capacity. They said due to lack of cold storage, green vegetables rot amounting to huge losses for them. “But if we store it in the cold storage, we get enough time to deal with the merchants coming here from other states,” added Arvind Mahto, a farmer. He said they are waiting for its inauguration since the year 2021 when its construction work was completed.
Sources said the district cooperative department was behind the construction of this cold storage near the district agriculture office in town for Rs 8 crore. They said last year in October, Hazaribag-based Tirupati Rice Mill owner Arjun Singh got the tender to run this cold storage signing a contract of five years giving Rs 12 lakh to the state government as annual revenue. But as the cold storage lacked power connection, it remained non-functional resulting in loss to farmers as well as to state government in terms of annual revenue.
District Cooperative Officer Neelam Kumari said they have sent the letter to power officials and are following norms so as to get a power connection at this cold storage. Soon, the power supply to this cold storage will start, making it functional, she assured.
