Borjhar, Sept. 21: Daranggiri Anchalik Unnayan Samiti, which runs the Northeast's biggest banana market, has threatened to stage a daylong rail blockade after the festive season between Kamakhya and Jogighopa over the Centre's failure to set up a railway station at Daranggiri in Goalpara district of lower Assam.
A railway station at the banana hub will facilitate smooth transportation of the crop across and outside the region. Buyers from Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar come to this market every year between September and November (peak season) to purchase the senisompa (musa acuminata colla) variety. The other varieties supplied across the state include malbhog, jahaji and bhim.
Over 10,000 banana growers across Goalpara depend on the market for a livelihood. The market opens twice a week, on Monday and Thursday. About 60 per cent of the bananas come from Meghalaya.
The Samiti comprises 73 members from 42 villages in Goalpara district.
Daranggiri is about 93km from Guwahati.
The Samiti alleged that its demand for a railway station has failed to evoke positive response from the government. "We have run from pillar to post, approaching the powers that be in New Delhi and at the Northeast Frontier Railway authorities for the past five years but to no avail. Now after the festive season is over, we will stage the protest, if no assurance is given by then," Hemkanta Rabha, president of the Samiti, said.
Saradhanand Saha, 52, a trader who has been a regular to the market from Bihar's Siwan district for the past 10 years said, "A railway station near the market is the need of the hour for convenient and hassle-free transactions for traders like us. Transportation of bananas by road costs three times more."
According to Samiti members, the value of transactions during the peak season goes up to Rs 3 crore. Rabha said considering the volume of transaction (over Rs 20 lakh per week), a nationalised bank near the market was imperative as well.
"For the past two years, the Samiti has been making all-out efforts to persuade authorities of Central Bank of India to set up a branch at Daranggiri. In the absence of a branch, traders have to go either Dudhnoi or Krishnai which is about 20km from Daranggiri," Rabha said.
Now, once the season is over, the Samiti will meet Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal to apprise him about the how infrastructure bottlenecks which has hit marketing of the fruit.
Twenty trucks (12-wheeled) transport the senisompa variety weekly during the peak season from the market. A truck carries 1,200-1,400 bunches. One bunch would have about 250 to 300 bananas.
Banana bunches are transported by bicycle from 70 villages under Dudhnoi agriculture subdivision. They are thereafter stocked at the godowns of the market, wrapped in banana leaf and loaded into trucks.
The market, spread over 5 bighas, has another major problem, that of deep potholes which cause difficulties to truckers while loading the crop. Truckers have to move about 50metres from NH-37 to reach the loading area inside the market.
S.K. Azizul, a truck driver from Burdwan district in Bengal, said, "Our vehicle gets struck in the pot holes, some of which are as deep as two feet."
"We had to fill the potholes with earth and boulders by spending Rs 5 lakh from our own coffers last year. The government's response in this regard has been poor," Ranjit Rabha, the secretary of the Samiti, said.
