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First perishable cargo centre set up

Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde today inaugurated the country's first perishable cargo centre set up at the Indira Gandhi international airport in New Delhi.

Similar cargo centres would soon be opened at Guwahati and Bangalore within a year to facilitate the export growth of agricultural and horticultural produce, Civil Aviation Minister Ananth Kumar announced on the occasion.

The Rs 710 million cargo centre, set up by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority in the warehouse space provided by the Airports Authority of India, has separate cold storage facilities for live stock products, fruits and vegetables and fresh flowers.

Ananth Kumar also announced that his ministry would soon clear a proposal for the purchase of 22 small aircraft with a seating capacity of 50 to be operated on new routes, covering semi-urban and rural areas. This will serve the cause of agriculture.

There was another proposal to upgrade five airports -- Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Guwahati and Hyderabad -- to the international level raising the number of such airports to 10.

The purchase of small aircraft and the upgradation, coupled with the opening of several regional and sub-regional hubs, would increase the reach of air service and push up economic growth.

Hegde regretted that export growth had been sluggish in the past two years, falling far short of targets. While the actual growth was four per cent in 1996-97 against the 19 per cent target, it was 2.6 per cent in 1997-98 against the 18 per cent target. His ministry had set its aim at 20 per cent this year.

The economic prosperity of the country depended on exports which also had a direct bearing on the balance of payment and foreign exchange reserves, he said.

Exports would also help check the falling value of the rupee against the dollar, he said.

Though the country's economy was primarily based on agriculture, exports of farm produce constituted only about 15 per cent as there was no proper facility for storing flowers, fruits and vegetables at airports.

UNI