Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies and district in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao on Sunday said that the government will take steps to make Dharwad a ‘mango district’.
He was speaking to presspersons after inaugurating a mango mela organised on the premises of the Department of Horticulture on Sunday.
Mr. Dinesh Gundu Rao said as the mangoes cultivated in Dharwad region had a good demand in the domestic and international markets, the government with the help of the State Mango Development and Marketing Corporation would set up a mango market in the district at a cost of Rs. 2 crore on a 10-acre land.
He said the Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad had been the asked to identify the land suitable for setting up the market and the plan was to make the market available to the people by the next season. As there was lack of cold storage facility in Dharwad district, steps were being taken to set it up in taluks under public-private partnership model, he said.
On Navalgund MLA N.H. Konaraddi’s complaint on discrepancies in the release of weather-based crop insurance, where farmers have got Rs. 30 lakh as compensation, the Minister said that the Deputy Commissioner would be directed to hold a meeting of farmers and insurance company representatives to address the issue.
