P P Sojitra, chairman of the Amreli Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), recently earned praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The reason: the unique model of financing that the APMC employed in developing its new market yard at Fatehpur, a village on the outskirts of Amreli town.
The new yard, costing Rs 125 crore, has 10 auction sheds of 25,000 square feet each, an open bidding space of three lakh square feet, 200 shops/offices, a well-appointed guest house, a farmer training centre, soil testing lab and produce grading facilities, underground cabling and storm-water drainage systems. But what sets it apart from other APMC-owned yards in India is its being built with hardly any state support or bank loans.
Read more of this in a report by Gopal Kateshiya published in The Indian Express...
