Rourkela, Feb. 13: A bureaucratic quandary surrounding departmental land transfer has delayed construction of one of the state's biggest wholesale vegetable markets at Balughat, around five kilometres from here.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for the 12.3-acre Rourkela Wholesale Market in February 2014. The market was supposed to be built at a cost Rs 98.45 crore. Both the local farmers and the consumers will be benefited once the market comes up.

Sundargarh collector B.S. Punia, however, told The Telegraph : "The land transfer process is at an advance stage of completion."

He said the revenue department had to transfer ownership of the land to the regulated market committee (RMC). "This will be over within this month," Punia added.

However, an official of RMC Panposh said that around 1.5-acre stretch of the site earmarked for the project was still under illegal occupation.

Earlier, it was decided that the RMC Panposh would fund the construction of the boundary wall, estimated to cost Rs 1.97 crore. RMC Panposh sub-committee chairman Ramesh Bala said: "The boundary wall will come up once the government declares a Rs 5-crore waiver package based on the premium price of the land. We are waiting for that."

This market yard is expected to have modern facilities, such as a cold storage, a facilitation centre for farmers coming to sell, an information centre and medical facilities with a small dispensary.