Sailen Sarkar lays the foundation stone for the perishable cargo complex at Bagdogra Airport. A Telegraph picture

Bagdogra, Sept. 22: North Bengal will soon have an auction centre to sell pineapples.

State urban development and municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya today announced this at the foundation-stone laying ceremony of a perishable cargo complex here, 12 km from Siliguri.

?Given the quantity of pineapples produced in the belt of north Bengal there is an imminent requirement for an auction centre for the fruit,? Bhattacharya said. ?The auction centre, which we plan to build at a cost of Rs 15 crore, will help farmers market their produce better and get a better price for them.?

State minister for food processing and horticulture Sailen Sarkar laid the foundation of the 500-sq-m cargo centre, which is being built by the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) on land provided by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The funds for the project (100 per cent grants-in-aid) ? Rs 294.83 lakh ? will be provided by the Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA). The cargo complex is expected to be completed by the next 15 months.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the SJDA and the APEDA was also signed today by S. Mazumder, the chief executive officer of the SJDA, and K.S. Money, the APEDA chairman.

?The cargo complex will go a long way in giving a boost to the export of agricultural and horticultural produce of the region,? Sarkar said. ?The two agricultural export zones in north Bengal ? North Dinajpur-Siliguri-Jalpaiguri for pineapple and Malda for mangoes ? will be highly benefited by the cargo complex. This will also help export of orchids and other flowers from Kalimpong. A state-of-the-art cargo complex at the airport will enable better preservation of agricultural and floricultural produce during delivery, by smoothening the supply chain.?

?The cargo complex will add to the importance of the airport,? Bhattacharya said. ?There are only six airports in the country with cargo complexes.?

Sarkar once again mooted the demand for operating international flights from Bagdogra airport.

Just after the ceremony, Sarkar left for Bidhannagar where a plot of land has been identified for the proposed pineapple auction centre. ?We are also interested in starting an auction centre for flowers. We have found a plot of land in North Dinajpur to set up a flower auction centre, but nothing has been finalised yet,? Sarkar said.