Nutri Mall of Delhi: Capital to get its 5th wholesale Mandi at Tikri Khurd
New Delhi: As the farmers' fears of the Centre's three new farm laws leading to the abolishment of the Mandi system rises by the day, the Delhi government, which has come out in support of the farmers in public, is now setting up a new Mandi on National Highway-1, which will be spread across 27.5 lakh square feet and will have every kind of modern facilities which will help not only the farmers but also the wholesale dealers, according to multiple officials with knowledge of the matter.
The officials added that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had called for transforming the wholesale market environment of the Capital by incorporating changes that will bridge the gap between farmers and wholesalers.
The wholesale market for fruits and vegetables will be known as the Nutri Mall of Delhi (NMOD) which will be located at Tikri Khurd village — around 11.5 km from Mukarba Chowk from Delhi's Outer Ring Road.
The NMOD will be built at par with the international standard of Mandis and will have three key components — wholesale market (with shops of various sizes, offices and farmer's shed), Cold storage and other facilities, commercial and retail shopping areas.
The wholesale market portion of the entire project will be spread across 18 lakh square feet, while the Cold Storage and Other Facilities will take up 2.5 lakh sq ft and Commercial Office and Retail Shopping area will be in 7.0 lakh sq ft.
"The new Mandi project will also have 13 acres of central green space, 8 MW solar generation plant, pneumatic waste disposal system and a double tire parking facility for 1,500 trucks at a time," an official from the Agriculture Department said, adding that the Mandi will bridge the gap between farmers and wholesale dealers.
"Experts have begun the work on the project and each square foot will be utilised to its full potential. The planning will be done in such a way that it will not be chaotic and overcrowded like other mandis, there will be proper segregation according to categories," another official from the
same department told Millennium Post.
The mandi will have a separate marked out space for trucks and a different space for shops and farmers.
As of now, the Capital has four Mandis — Azadpur Mandi which is considered as Asia's largest wholesale market followed by Ghazipur, Keshopur and Okhla wholesale vegetable and fruit markets — which have also seen changes over the years under the AAP-led government but the new Mandi will be a "game-changer", another official said.
This market is expected to help the farmers and wholesale dealers, according to the officials. The site also has an existing water channel running nearby so water pipelines will not be a problem, one of the officials added.
