Minister for Tribal Welfare P. Balaraju has said that a cold storage unit with 20,000-tonne capacity being set up in Visakhapatnam with Rs.7.50 crore will be completed in a month or two.
It will keep tamarind, honey and all varieties of forest produce collected by tribal people fresh and help farmers sell the same whenever they get remunerative price.
Speaking to media persons after visiting the Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) centre in Rajahmundry on Friday, the Minister said that earlier GCCs were established in towns that were nearer to the Agency areas because there was no transportation facility in tribal areas.
But, now the government decided to set up GCCs in tribal mandal headquarters and other places which were nearer to the forest. He said that the government would ensure minimum support price (MSP) for the forest produce every year and tribal people can keep their produce in cold storages.
