Assocham ropes in Unido to set up food cluster in state

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (Assocham) may set up a cluster for food and agro-industries in West Medinipur and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal.

Both the players had signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard on October, but did not select the districts for developing the clusters. “We have signed an agreement with Unido for a food and agro-related cluster in two districts of West Bengal under a public-private partnership (PPP) model,” Assocham secretary general D S Rawat had said.

It was in a meeting held at Writers’ Building last week with Manas Ranjan Bhunia, the minister of micro, small and medium enterprises in West Bengal, that he had suggested to zero in on both West Medinipore and Murshidabad districts.

Both Unido and Assocham would focus on the food processing sector in addition to handicraft units in Murshidabad, as part of the cluster development. “The purpose of the project is to enable the states and especially their poverty missions as well as selected private sector entities to promote fruit, vegetable and handicraft processing knowledge and technology”, said P K Sandell, chairman, National Foundation for Development of Micro Industry and Clusterisation.

Land availability an issue

After the face-off between the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee over the treatment towards AMRI directors, Assocham has distanced itself from the controversy.