November 12, 2018
State Govt’s Sufal Bangla stalls cross century mark
The highly successful Sufal Bangla chain of fair-price field produce stalls has crossed the century mark. Currently there are 104 stalls across Bangla, including both permanent and mobile.
The venture started in 2014 with 14 mobile shops. According to the State Agricultural Marketing Department, which does the overall running of the chain, there are now 72 stalls in Kolkata and 32 in the districts.
A major demand of many of the big housing complexes in Kolkata – availability of affordable vegetables, grains and fruits – is fulfilled by Sufal Bangla. Currently there are 39 Sufal Bangla stalls in housing complexes, 21 of which are in Rajarhat.
The overall running of the chain is done by the State Agricultural Marketing Department. On a day-today basis, the stalls are run by various farmers’ producers’ companies (FPC). The State Government calls for tenders, on the basis of which the stalls are distributed to the FPCs.
The government also constructs the stalls and provided vehicles for bringing the goods from the farmers’ places to the stalls, the direct transport of the goods without the involvement of middlemen being the key to the very reasonable prices offered to customers.
