The Hindu : Auctioning goes electronic at Azadpur mandi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 07, 2003

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Auctioning goes electronic at Azadpur mandi

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI JAN. 6. An electronic auction system which will bring total transparency to the trade of fruit and vegetables and keep traders and farmers in touch with the daily "transparent rates'' on a commodity basis was inaugurated today by the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, in the Chaudhury Heera Singh Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market at Azadpur here.

Describing the launch of the service, the first of its kind in India, as a major boon for business with transparency, Ms. Dikshit also lauded the modern and transparent regulation of marketing activities in Azadpur.

Speaking before growers, market functionaries and others connected with the fruit and vegetable trade, the Chief Minister also congratulated the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee for getting the market designated as the world's largest fruit and vegetable market.

Ms. Dikshit, who also unveiled a statue of Late Chaudhury Hira Singh in the Central Park developed by APMC, Azadpur, noted that the market -- constructed by Delhi Development Authority in 1977 and spread over 80 acres -- is the largest such distribution centre in the world handling over 3,000 trucks daily and 38,19,919 metric tons of agricultural commodities in 2001-02.

It was also pointed out that the Integrated Facility Centre at Azadpur market provides for some of the most advanced sorting, grading and storage systems. The Potato Grading Sorting Machine has a 10 metric ton per hour capacity with bagging arrangement. It washes and brushes potatoes and eliminates seeds before sorting them into six different sizes, grading into six different weights and filling into plastic net bags of 5, 10, 25 and 50 kg capacity.

The Onion Sorting Grading Machine also has a 10 metric ton per hour capacity. It sorts onions into four sizes and grades them into four weight sizes before filling into bags of 25 kg and 40 kg capacity.

For apple, orange, kinow and mango, the market has two sorting-grading machines of 5 metric ton per hour capacity which also have provision for hot/cold water treatment and waxing and are accompanied with side outfits for carton packing.

The vegetable sorting grading machine for cauliflower, cabbage, ginger, arbi and carrots also has a similar capacity with manual inspection conveyor for visual sorting into four different categories.

Then there are banana ripening rooms of 10 and 25 metric tons per day capacity which use natural ripening hormone -- ethylene -- and adopt internationally approved safe and healthy methods for fruit ripening, cooling by refrigeration and control of carbon dioxide content.

The market also has eight refrigerated vans and trucks of 4, 10 and 15 ton capacity besides PUF insulated contained with eco-friendly refrigeration system for transport of quickly perishable produce.

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