The Centre has cleared four more agri export zones (AEZs) taking the total number of AEZs to 10 across the country. To be located in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, AEZs would be established at an investment of Rs 74.17 crore. The notification will be issued soon, officials said.
These AEZs would be set up for potatoes, wines and grapes, mangoes and tanflora flowers, officials said. While AEZ for mangoes would be set up in Shahranpur (UP), wine and grapes in the Nasik region (Maharashtra), potatoes in the Ludhiana-Patiala (Punjab) belt and flowers in Dharampur district (Tamil Nadu).
The potatoes zone involves an investment of Rs 10.41 crore in Singhpura, Patiala, Rampura Phul, Muktsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. While Rs 8.69 crore will be invested by the Centre, including Rs 91.5 lakh by the Agricultural and Processed Food Exports Development Authority (APEDA), Rs 24 lakh would be given by the Punjab government and the remaining amount would come from the private sector.
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Punjab Markfed is interested in setting up the potato zone in Patiala and has assured the Centre that the zone would come up by January 2002.
AEZ for tanflora flowers in Hossur taluk of Tamil Nadu would be set up at a cost of Rs 24.15 crore.
In October, the central government had cleared three AEZs, one in Punjab for vegetables and two in UP for mangoes and potatoes. The government had earlier permitted AEZs in Uttaranchal (litchis), West Bengal (pineapples) and Karnataka (gherkins).
The zones for potatoes in Agra, Farrukhabad, Mainpuri, Hathras, Meerut and Baghpat would be operational by December this year.
While mango exports from the zone in Lucknow would begin in May 2002, the vegetable zone in Ludhiana, Fategarh Sahib, Patiala and Sangrur would be operational by the end of this fiscal.
Other proposals in the pipeline include Tamil Nadu (vegetables), Karnataka (promengranates, grapes, mangoes, acidlime and roseonions), Andhra Pradesh (mangoes, grapes, vegetables), Maharashtra (mangoes, flowers and oranges), Gujarat (mangoes and groundnuts) and Rajasthan (guargum and Bikaneri bhujiya).