The Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) hopes to reduce the use of calcium carbide and other harmful chemicals to ripen mangoes by setting up a ripening chamber in Market Yard to facilitate ripening of the fruit in a scientific way without using toxic chemicals.
APMC authorities have already identified a vacant space for the chamber and have initiated steps to install the machinery and provide technical support. The authorities will chalk out an action plan in a meeting on Monday 28 March. The chamber will most likely start functioning by next week.
Traders in the wholesale market said that mango consignments have already started arriving from Konkan, other regions and neighbouring states. The APMC needs to start the ripening chamber at the earliest to prevent the fruit from rotting, they said.
Shivlal Bhosale, leader of the traders' association, said, "Last year, the facility was set up in the APMC very late, when the season was about to end. This time, the APMC has assured us that it would open the chamber at the start of the season. The move will not only prove helpful for traders and mango growers, but it will also benefit buyers as they will get fruit which has been ripened through a safe process.''
The chamber will cover an area of 2,000 sq ft and will cater to a consignment of up to four truckloads of mangoes in one go. APMC officials will carry out continuous surveillance at the facility.
