10 co-operatives in Purulia get Sufala vans

The state Cooperation department has engaged ten co-operative societies from Purulia district to operate mobile Sufala stalls to let common people get fresh vegetables at a reasonable price.

Each of the co-operative society has been provided with a mini-truck fitted with a commercial refrigerator to store perishable goods like fish and milk.

Arup Roy, the state Cooperation minister, handed over keys of the vans to representatives of the co-operative societies from Purulia. The programme took place outside the New Secretariat building.

He said: "The project Sufala was named by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The project has been successfully implemented in many districts. Today (Thursday) we have launched ten more Sufala mobile vans for Purulia district. It will ensure distribution of fresh vegetables at a reasonable price after procuring them directly from farmers."

"Earlier, farmers didn't use to get the right price for their produce. We have taken several steps and ensured that they get the right price for their produce. The introduction of mobile vans to procure vegetables directly from farmers and to sell it to local people has played a major role in ensuring right price for the produce of farmers. At the same time, people are also getting fresh vegetables at a reasonable price," he said.

The state Cooperation department has set a target of introducing 100 such vehicles which will be operated by co-operative societies. So far, 37 such mobile vans have already been given to them in different districts. Already 15 mobile Sufala vans are operating in Nadia and 10 in South 24 Parganas. The Chief Minister had handed over keys of two of the ten mobile Sufala vans to beneficiaries during a recently held programme in South 24 Parganas. She has handed over two similar vans to co-operative societies in Burdwan too.

The department is taking all necessary steps to fulfill its target by ensuring speedy introduction of all the 100 mobile Sufala vans in all the districts. Besides the mobile Sufala vans, the department has also set up several stalls in different parts of the state to sell out fresh vegetables at a reasonable price after procuring it directly from farmers.

At present, there are 5,500 co-operative societies and a large number of self help groups in the state under the Cooperation department. The minister of the department will be visiting Sagar in South 24 Parganas on Friday to hold a meeting with representatives of some of the self help groups. Each of these self help groups comprise more than 4,000 members.

The minister will hold discussions with the representatives to chalk out a roadmap for steps needed to be

undertaken to further strengthen the self help groups so that they can get involved in more activities.

The minister will also inaugurate a newly set up branch in the state co-operative bank in Sagar. The inauguration programme will be held

on Saturday.