Kolkata: The "Sufal Bangla" project of the state Agriculture Marketing department has ensured a hike in revenue generation by around Rs 14 lakh in just three months and at the same time, 132 more stalls have been set up to help people get fresh vegetables at their door-step during the lockdown.
In March, there was 134 Sufal Bangla stalls. In a bid to expand, the number of stalls has been increased to 266. There are 230 stalls in Kolkata, Howrah, Salt Lake and New Town. The revenue generation in these three months has also gone up to around Rs 21 lakh that was around Rs 7 lakh before COVID-19 outbreak.
Tapan Dasgupta, the Agriculture Marketing department minister, said: "Sufal Bangla has immensely helped people in different localities during the lockdown." A project to set up 35
more static Sufal Bangla stalls
at different parts of Bengal before Durga Puja has also been taken up.
The new Sufal Bangla stalls will come up in districts including Murshidabad, South Dinajpur, Nadia, West Midnapore and Kolkata. "A total of three stalls will come up in Murshidabad. Four are under-construction in Nadia and one in South Dinajpur," said a senior officer of the department adding that if everything goes as planned as many as 35 more stalls will come up before the Puja.
The department is working on building up a network to start selling Hilsa fish from Sufal Bangla outlets across the state. The department has already signed an agreement with two Farmer Producers' Organisations (FPO) at East Midnapore and East Burdwan so that the initiative can be started.