Row over 50 acres of APMC land in Jadhavwadi

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB) has a possession of 50 acres of land in the premises of the High Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Jadhavwadi. The decision regarding which development project related to the agricultural sector has to be set up on this land will soon be taken in the board’s meeting, said the MSAMB’s Managing Director, Sanjay Kadam, who was in the city to grace the Mango and Millet Festival organised at Jadhavwadi, on Friday.

During the inauguration, the MLA Haribhau Bagde raised the issue of the 50 acres. He mentioned that although 14 years have passed, the MSAMB has only built a two-storey office there, with no further development. If the board does not want to undertake any development work, the APMC is ready to purchase the land and set up an agriculture-based project on it.

Responding to the query, Kadam said that the board has a plan to develop a project on the land. The blueprint for this has been prepared. In the coming days, a meeting of the board of directors (BoDs) will be held in Pune and soon an announcement will be made regarding which project will be established here, he clarified.

All Projects on Paper!

The APMC has 73.28 hectares of land in Jadhavwadi. Earlier, when APMC failed to repay the loan on time, SBI Bank approached the Debt Recovery Tribunal in 2010. Following the court's order, the APMC faced the disgrace of land seizure. At that time, the MSAMB came to the aid of the APMC and deposited a sum of Rs 15 crore to clear the debt and retrieve the land. In exchange, the APMC gave 50 acres of land to the board. Earlier, announcements were made to establish a Mango Park, then a Terminal Market, a Maize Hub, and later a Modern Market on this land. However, all these announcements remained only on paper, it is learnt.