Kolkata's New Town to get organic market

KOLKATA: The first government-run market for organic products in the city will come up on an 18-cottah plot in New Town.

The Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) has allotted the plot, located beside the Major Arterial road, to the agricultural marketing department for setting up the market. “The plot has been allotted to the agriculture marketing department off the main arterial road. It would be a market centre comprising only organic products,“ said Hidco chairman-cum-managing director Debashis Sen.

“The market will only have organic food and products. One of the main objectives is to support and promote the farmers who are doing organic farming and bring them under one roof,“ said an official.

“The price of organic food and other products are almost twice or thrice the price of traditional pro ducts. The reason: The demand for organic products is high but supply is less.It's good that the government has taken up such an initiative to promote organic products,“ said Sekhar Chatterjee, a partner of Green Chain, a firm that deals with organic product inputs. The New Town Kolkata Development Authority will also launch a pilot project on roof-top green organic farming in the township.