First bio-fertilizer production unit in the NE Region comes up at Majhitar

GANGTOK, 01 August: A Bio-Fertilizer Production Unit, which is the first in the whole North-East Region, was inaugurated by the Food Security & Agriculture Development Department [FS&ADD] Minister, DN Takarpa, in the presence of Commerce and Industries Minister, Neeru Sewa, at Majhitar in East Sikkim today.
The department has leased out this unit to Balaji Crop Care Private Limited, Hyderabad, at Rs 18 lakh per annum for 15 years. The annual capacity of the unit is 150 metric tonnes per annum. The company will manufacture bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides, organic fertilizers and plant growth promoters. The unit aims at catering to the needs of Sikkim and the whole North Eastern Region.
Addressing the inaugural function, Mr Takarpa mentioned that after the Chief Minister’s declaration to make Sikkim an Organic State, the department has been working hard towards this mission and now the state is fully equipped to achieve this target. He added that setting up such a unit was required to achieve the vision of being an organic state.
Responding to the company’s request to buy their products, the Minister stated that if the company provides quality products at a reasonable rate then the government would definitely buy their products in this competitive market as the government wants the best for the state. He also assured to provide all possible support to the company and called for joint efforts from all sides to fulfill the vision of the CM to make Sikkim an Organic State.
While congratulating the department and the company for setting up the unit, Ms Sewa expressed that the unit would help achieve the target of becoming an organic state in the stipulated time. However, she suggested the department to create awareness among panchayat members on the importance of the unit to farmers.
Secretary, Vishal Chauhan informed that the government has decided to lease out the unit and following an open bid this company was allotted the task to run the production unit. On the request to buy back the products, he informed that the company has to reach out to farmers to promote their products and the department would purchase their products only if there is demand for it from farmers.
In his welcome address, Chief Engineer, SK Paul presented the technical details of the unit. He informed that such a bio-fertilizer production unit was the first in the entire North East Region and Sikkim has taken the lead in this field.  He informed that the unit has been built at a total cost of Rs 60.88 lakh funded by the North East Council.
Senior Vice-President [Operations] of the company, L Sreekanth informed that Balaji Crop Care Pvt Limited is a unit of Hyderabad-based Sowbhagya Biotech Pvt Limited and is a leading company in this sector. He informed that the company has been supplying its products to many states in the country.
This new unit has already started manufacturing and will do its best to cater to the needs of Sikkim and other North-Eastern States, said Mr Sreekanth and further requested the department to provide additional storage facility and additional land for the expansion of the unit.
The inaugural function, which was conducted by Divisional Engineer, Passang Tamang, concluded with the vote of thanks by Principal Director, Phitook Bhutia.