kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee flagged off 50 Sufal Bangla vehicles from Red Road in Kolkata on Monday. She also inaugurated 150 new Sufal Bangla outlets across the state, covering North Bengal and Paschimanchal districts for the first time and also augmented outlets in Kolkata and nearby areas.
Two primary aggregation hubs for collection of fresh vegetables and fruits from farmers and thereafter supplying to Sufal Bangla outlets that have been set up recently at Kanksa near Krishak Bazar, Durgapur and another one at Salbari, Krishak Bazar near Siliguri were also inaugurated by the Chief Minister.
Besides this, four mini-hubs at Onda in Bankura, Maynaguri and Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri and Balarampur in Purulia started functioning to feed the Sufal Bangla outlet network. In addition, one mini aggregation hub at Falakata has also been made functional to cater to this expansion plan.
“Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has always wanted the farmers to be self-reliant. So, we decided to flag off Sufal Bangla vehicles from the state programme that we have organised to pay humble tribute to freedom fighter and true leader Netaji,” Banerjee said.
Out of 150 new Sufal Bangla outlets, 100 are located in Kolkata Metropolitan Area, 25 in Siliguri Municipal Area and 25 in Asansol –Durgapur Municipal area.
State Agricultural Marketing Department procured 50 modern vehicles entirely at its cost, placed at the disposal of selected FPCs (Farmer Producer Companies) to run the Sufal Bangla outlets in franchise. These additional 150 Sufal Bangla outlets will be operated by Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and all operations of procurement, grading and sale from retail outlets will be managed by FPCs as selected to run the outlets.
Sufal Bangla started its journey from September 29, 2014 with only 14 mobile vending vehicles providing vegetables and other agricultural produces from one aggregation hub set up at Tapashi Malik Krishak Bazar, in Singur and gradually expanded retail outlets in Kolkata and nearby areas.
Sufal Bangla serves more than three lakh consumers daily and approximately 4 lakh farmers are directly connected to the market through its existing procurement network. With the inauguration by Banerjee, the total number of Sufal Bangla outlets has stood at 512 throughout the state
Sufal Bangla brand of retail chain of outlets provides opportunities to farmers to sell their agricultural produce like vegetables, fruits and other agricultural commodities directly to consumers at prevailing current price in the retail market and offer fresh, quality produce to consumers at affordable prices.