Agro-commodity exchange likely

Talking about the potential of agro-related business in the state, the Chief Minister said the state government had decided to develop fast track integrated farm-to retail cold chain infrastructure with involvement of private sector. Under this system, efforts would be made to procure agro-produce at a pre-determined price on behalf of developers, he added. Besides, additional concessions such as allowing the developers to use the retail network to distribute their own products, concessional land and free pricing of cold storage/transport services would be provided.

Badal said the state government would also set up an agro-commodity exchange, for exchange of market intelligence. Not only would it promote sale and purchase of agro-commodities with greater emphasis on branded commodities, it would also help eliminate middlemen to improve the distribution efficiency of the marketing system, he emphasised.

Stressing the need to develop the livestock and dairy development sector, the Chief Minister said the state government was in the process of finalising a new animal health policy and breeding policy to provide an effective health cover to the state’s livestock and for its genetic improvement by importing the best available germ plasm in the world.

He said the move would help ensure a quantum jump in the livestock and dairy development sector and enhance quality of products, bringing them at par with the international standards.Talking about hurdles faced in terms of land availability by the industry and government, Badal said the government was contemplating a land bank or trust which could take land from farmers on long lease and sub-lease for industrial use. He said that land acquisition was a "sensitive issue" as small and marginal farmers were willing to work in factories.

In addition, the government is planning to develop an expressway between Mohali and Ludhiana, extendable to Bathinda through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), with mega industrial estates along this corridor to cater to the demand from the two industrial hubs. Badal said that a command area of Greater Mohali integrating elements of ultra-modern urban infrastructure would be created to develop the city as the "service capital of India". The development of software technology park (STP) was only the first step towards positioning Mohali as a "smart city", he added.

Others who also spoke on the occasion included CII president R.V.Shah, Agro Tech ’98 chairman Rajan Nanda, CII ( Northern Region) chairman Arun Bharat Ram and BJP MP Vinod Khanna.