Tarun Karthick
Port Blair, 07 September 2023
In a significant stride towards achieving the vision of ‘Sahakar se Samridhi’ (Prosperity through Cooperation), Mr. Keshav Chandra, IAS, Chief Secretary of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration, officially inaugurated five Mobile Rural Marts on 6th September. These mobile marts, launched under the NABARD Scheme, were handed over to Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) across various districts to empower local farmers and enhance their access to markets.
The five Mobile Rural Marts were flagged off to benefit the farming communities of Kalighat, Keralapuram, Kishorinagar, and Milangram in the North & Middle Andaman District, as well as the Little Andaman PACS in the South Andaman District.
Notably, Diglipur and Little Andaman are renowned for their vegetable cultivation and agricultural produce. The introduction of these mobile marts aims to ease farmers’ access to the Diglipur Market by road and also provide them with an alternative shipping route via Aerial Bay and Hutbay to reach the markets in Port Blair. This initiative is expected to have a positive impact on the livelihoods of farmers residing in 18 villages.
An empowering aspect of this scheme is the active participation of PACS, with each PACS contributing 25% of the vehicle’s cost. The efforts of Mr. Atal Baroi, Mr. Joydev Talukdar, Mr. Uttam Biswas, Mr. Suresh Sammaddar, Mr. Dilip Halder, and Mr. Anjan Biswas, who are secretaries and chairpersons of the respective PACS, were commended by Chief Secretary Keshav Chandra.
The Chief Secretary also praised the collaborative efforts of NABARD and the Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank in facilitating this initiative, emphasising the importance of such endeavours to support local farmers.
The launch event was attended by several dignitaries, including Ms. Nandini Paliwal, Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Agriculture & Cooperation), Mr. C Arvind, Secretary (Finance), Ms. Nandini Maharaj, Special Secretary (Coop)-cum-RCS, Ms. Archana Singh, General Manager/Officer-in-Charge of NABARD, Mr. Rahul Damani, Deputy General Manager of NABARD, and Mr. K Murugan, Managing Director of the Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank Ltd.
The introduction of these Mobile Rural Marts holds the promise of bolstering the agricultural sector in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, facilitating the efficient movement of produce and fostering prosperity among local farming communities.