Honey, mustard sauce in tubes, on the footsteps of nolen gur

Kolkata: Buoyed by the tremendous response of date palm jaggery (nolen gur) in tubes, the West Bengal Khadi and Village Industries Board (WBKVIB) will soon introduce honey and mustard sauce, popularly known as kasundi, in tubes as well.

The tubes will be similar to the nolen gur tubes that were introduced more than two years ago. The packaging will be developed by the Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), that has been instrumental for the toothpaste-styled tube of Nolen Gur, according to a senior official of WBKVIB.

The Khadi Board has already come up with a state-of-the-art common production centre (CPC) for nolen gur in Nadia district, at an investment of around Rs 2.5 crore, capable of packing jaggery at the rate of 30 tubes per minute. The CPC has been operational from December last year.

According to a WBKVIB official, since nolen gur tubes are produced for only four months a year, the period when date palm jaggery is available, the machine would remain idle for the rest of the year.

Hence, the idea has been hatched to utilise the machine to make tubes of honey and kasundi for the rest of the year.

Apart from domestic customers, the nolen gur tubes are very much in demand among the foreigners visiting the city.

State Government officials are confident of a similar demand for these other tubes.