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Minister of State for Commerce, Industry and Power, Jairam Ramesh inaugurated the first Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC) at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata. With a storage capacity of 12,000 million tonnes, the newly installed CPC happens to be the first of its kind in the state of West Bengal.
The CPC is built on an area of 742.5 square meters. Its storage capacity is 10 times higher than the present export of perishable goods from the Kolkata airport. Seasonal fruits, vegetables and chilled fish of perishable category are exported from Kolkata by air. So the new CPC will expand the export business rapidly.
As per Jairam Ramesh, the massive storage capacity of this CPC should be used to its fullest extent. The Rs 67.5-million-project is entirely financed by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) of the commerce ministry. Meanwhile another CPC is under construction in Kolkata which is supposed to kick off from March 2009.
The state of West Bengal was in great need of Centre for Perishable Cargo as it is the hinterland of many states and also the gateway for exports to Southeast Asia. The setting up of Centre for Perishable Cargo will not only benefit West Bengal, but also other states like Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand and all the northeast states.
