Two abandoned vehicles covered in overgrown bushes and creepers greet morning walkers in front of an incomplete three-storey building at the Urban Wholesale Agricultural Market at Vengeri.
The building, located at the western end of the 10-hectare market, was meant to house a Farmers Training Centre (FTC) under the Department of Agriculture. Conceived more than a decade ago to benefit farmers in north Kerala, the project is yet to become a reality.
The proposal was to build a satellite centre of the State Agriculture Management Extension Training Institute (SAMETI) with modern facilities for training farmers in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts. Subsequently the Agriculture Department had entered into agreements with the Thrissur-based Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development (COSTFORD) to construct the complex at a cost of ₹96.6 lakh in 2012.
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As per the agreement, the building should have been completed by August 31, 2014. Even after three years, the project remained unfinished.
“ Multiple reminders had been served on the COSTFORD. Last year, former agriculture director Biju Prabhakar had threatened to blacklist COSTFORD. Now, if required, the department may initiate legal procedures,” A.M. Sunil Kumar, Director-in-charge, Agriculture Department, told The Hindu on Tuesday.
On the delay, he said that COSTFORD had given excuses such as labour problems and issues with the contractor. “Any way, the department has taken up the matter with Minister for Agriculture V.S. Sunil Kumar, ” he said.
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He said that facilities proposed at the FTC included seminar hall, mini conference hall, demonstration room and laboratories, separate dormitories for women and men, kitchen and dining halls.
Narayanan Kalpakassery, a farmer at Vengeri, said that farmers and agricultural officers depend on meagre facilities attached to the administrative office.
“Those selected for three-day training programmes usually arrive in the morning and return by evening. Earlier people coming from far-off places such as Sultan Bathery face difficulties to find accommodation. So the department engages in off-campus training,” he pointed out.