The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Tamarind traders demand cold storage unit

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Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamarind traders demand cold storage unit

Staff Reporter

All petitions have fallen on deaf ears, they allege

– Photo: N. Bashkaran

No place to store: Labourers loading tamarind bags in trucks at Pazhyapettai wholesale market in Krishnagiri.

KRISHNAGIRI: Tamarind traders are demanding a government cold storage unit in Krishnagiri town for the past seven to eight years, said the Wholesale Merchants Association President S. Sundararajan here on Tuesday.

He told The Hindu that the association had been fighting for the cold storage for the past seven to eight years. “We submitted countless petitions to the district administration, but all in vain.”

“Every time the petitions were sent to the then collector for the combined Dharmapuri district Mangat Ram Sharma or the succeeding collectors of Krishnagiri, we were promised that action will be taken or the proposal will be sent to the Government,” Sundararajan recollected and added, “Krishnagiri is the main market for tamarind. We get tamarind from Veppanapalli, Bargur and Varattanapalli in Krishnagiri district and also from Sangagiri, Vellore and Natrampalli.”

He added that they received 3500 to 4000 gunny bags of tamarind at Rs.7 to 9 a kg during the ‘weekly market’ days, i.e., Thursdays and Sundays, which was Rs. 5 less than the cost last season. During the tamarind season from February to May they bought tamarind from the farmers and sold it at a meagre margin to retailers.

“We store tamarind in three private cold storage units in Krishnagiri. These private cold storages charge Rs. 0.80 a kg. for the whole year. The air-conditioners at these cold storages are switched off for five to 10 hours, due to which the tamarind turns black,” Sundararajan said and added that there was a proposal to construct two cold storage units in the place where the Agricultural Marketing Producers Marketing Federation exists, which was later dropped for reasons best known only to the authorities.“The three private cold storage units have the capacity to keep 600 to 700 truck loads of food items. We therefore propose to submit a petition to the Collector V.K. Shanmugam urging him to set up a cold storage unit with the capacity to keep 500 to 600 truck loads, i.e., 5000 to 6000 tonnes of tamarind,” Sundararajan said. Former president of the association P. Periyasamy said the traders had lost several lakh due to poor maintenance at private godowns in Krishnagiri. This was the reason they were demanding a government cold storage.

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