If consumers find purchasing vegetables a big pain in the neck or just do not have the time to visit market or  skills to pick the freshest vegetables from crowded market places, here is some good news to them.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, in coordination with the state marketing department, will launch an initiative, ‘Manakuragayalu’, to provide vegetables at people’s doorstep in about 100 locations in the twin cities.

The fresh vegetables on wheels will involve unemployed youth forming into self help groups and sell fresh vegetables grown by farmers and farming entrepreneurs.

The directorate of marketing has identified as many as 100 locations to sell fresh vegetables at citizens’ doorstep. The department will act a facilitator between  farmers and consumers as direct marketing of vegetable produce will eliminate middlemen and makes the farmer directly responsible for selling his/her produce through SHGs who, in turn, will sell to the consumers at their doorstep.

Chief executive officer (CEO), Rythu Bazaar, MK Singh told Express that the initiative would have three benefits. Farmers in the cluster of Rangareddy and Medak districts will supply freshly harvested vegetables to unemployed youth (SHGs), who collect vegetables from farms and carry them to the designated mobile vegetable sales outlets listed out by the department and sell the vegetables in retail which will be cheaper than the market price.

‘’We are in the process of finalising the details with the GHMC shortly and the initiative will be launched on Ugadi’’ Singh added.    

The consumers will get quality of vegetables at cheaper rates. The prices will be a little higher than those at Rythu Bazaars but the vegetables can be bought at one’s doorstep, he added.

The GHMC will provide bank linkage to the SHGs for purchasing vehicles by providing 50 percent loan subsidy and will identify 100 groups for selling vegetables,  additional commissioner (UCD) D.Jayaraj Kennedy said.

GHMC officials said that the dreams of farmers and unemployed youth would come true by fetching them better rate and offering lower prices to consumers, thus avoiding exploitation by middlemen.

Chief secretary PK Mohanty is keen on the scheme and wants the GHMC and marketing department to start the process at the earliest. The two held a meeting at the HGHMC’s head office near Tank Bund on Tuesday to discuss the nitty-gritty of the operations.