JOIN USStorage out in the cold
The building has been
lying vacant for the last eight years without any use for the farmers.
The building has not even been used for once since its inauguration in 2002. The reason: its unscientific construction.
It is not located at a location of high altitude, and worse it has been constructed inside the godown due to which the temperature at the unit cannot be maintained.
Machines unused
The seven warehouses constructed in 1990 have been converted into the cold storage unit. Machines worth more than Rs one crore have been installed here. But these are rusting, unusused as they for years now. The unit did not also receive adequate power after its construction. Fearing the lose of their produce farmers avoided storing their product here.
A well equipped private cold storage was constructed at a distance of three km from here at the same time, which offered farmers better facility to store their produce. Hence, the farmers rushed to this unit.
Owing to the construction of the unit, the APMC incurring a loss of Rs 1.68 lakh a year. As the building lay unused, it it has lost the rent which could have been collected from the farmers. Earlier, the APMC got a rent of Rs 14,000 from the seven warehouse. But now it has lost this rent by converting the warehouse into a cold storage unit.
The committee till 2005 had to pay electricity bill of Rs 18,000 per month. (Rs 2.16 lakh per annum). The then Committee president Maralukunte Krishnamurthy cut the power supply to the unit to reduce the loss.
The renovation of the unit also needs heavy investment. But there are doubts on using the unit even after repair. The directors of the APMC feel the need to construct warehouse instead of the unit so that the APMC could get rent from these units.
R Chandrashekhar, president of APMC has also shown interest in the warehouse construction and has promised to take action after discussing the matter with farmers.