Guwahati: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday decried the Centre for not allotting even a single cold chain for the entire North East region out of the 30 new cold chains it has sanctioned for 30 different places in the country and stated that it was another example of indifferent attitude of the incumbent Central government to the region.
In a statement issued here on Friday, Gogoi expressed his displeasure over the non-committal of the Centre which has deprived the North East of its due share of new cold chains the Centre has sanctioned recently for 30 places across the country.
Referring to the development, Gogoi stated the Centre had blatantly ignored the North East once again.
“Ignoring the North East in respect of setting up a robust cold chain infrastructure reflected Centre’s indifference towards the region,” Gogoi said.
Gogoi pointed out that Assam and the rest of the North East was bestowed with rich natural resources and one of the areas that potential areas for the states in the region was food processing.
“However, due to inadequate cold storage facilities, farmers of the region fail to get optimum post harvest benefits.
Considering the region’s potential in producing large quantum of agriculture and horticultural products, adequate investment and support from the Centre could have upgrade the region to prominent exporter of agri-horticultural products,” Gogoi added.
Meanwhile, Assam government has decided to exempt all agricultural produce of the state barring the tea, from Agriculture Income Tax.
For this purpose, Assam cabinet has cleared the draft amendment ordinance of the Assam Agriculture Income Tax Act of 1939.
The state government expects that the move will give a major boost to production of high-value crops, vegetables and horticulture products by state farmers.
