Construction of cold storage facility in limbo

Rajbiraj (Saptari)- The most awaited dream project of the farmers, a construction of cold store is in limbo in Saptari district.

The lack of a cold storage facility in the area means that local productions like fruits and vegetables are damaged, incurring losses to the farmers. Though cold store construction was started in 2075 BS at Deuri of Rajbiraj municipality-15 in the district, the construction work is stalled since 2078 BS.

The cold store has the storage capacity of 3,000 metric tons. The total cost of the project is Rs 280 million. Ramesh Prasad Gupta, manager of District Co-operative Society Saptari, informed that due to lack of budget, the cold storage construction work has stopped midway. He said that for the construction of cold storage in the fiscal year 2076/77 BS, Rs. 6.36 million was allocated. But the remaining amount is not allocated so far from the federal government.

The federal government is yet to provide Rs 100.75 million for the project which has resulted in its stalling. Manager Gupta says that he has been repeatedly requesting the Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation to provide additional budget. Along with this project, the construction of similar cold storage facilities was started simultaneously in Nawalparasi and Saptari.

According to him, the cold storage has already been constructed and has brought into operation in Nawalparasi. Construction of the cold storage has been started on one and a half acres of land with 60% subsidy from the federal government, 20% from the associations and 20% from the local and state governments. Local products including banana, mango, potato, onion and garlic are going to wastage due to the lack of the cold storage facility.

The farmers have not been able to sell their produce in other places except in their district. “We are compelled to sell our produce at cheaper price for lack of cold storage in our area. The produce is damaged as the farmers cannot sell their produce,” Gupta lamented. He stated that on the other hand the farmers have to buy fruits and vegetables at higher rate during the off-season.

According to Gupta, the construction of the cold storage was started with a plan of storing the fruits and vegetables produced by the local farmers through the cooperatives. He said although the Madhes Province Government has allocated Rs 80 million for the construction of the Cooperative Cold Storage in the current fiscal year 2024/25, they have not yet received the amount.