Centre to set up six Spice Parks

New Delhi, Nov 23 (ANI): The Union Government on Monday proposed to set up six Spices Parks with all infrastructure facilities for cleaning, grading, processing, packing facilities etc.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotirasitya Scindia informed: "The Spices Parks are primarily to empower the spices farmers through value-addition and quality improvement of spices, along with backward linkage in various parts of the country."

The parks will be set up in Guntur of Andhra Pradesh, Sivaganga of Tamil Nadu, Puttadi of Kerala and Idukki of Rajasthan.

He also informed the House that the location for the parks in Gujarat and in Uttar Pradesh are yet to be finalised.

Replying to another question, Scindia said in order to facilitate international trade, government is committed to reduce transaction costs and delays an simplify export procedures, on a continuous basis.

He said : "A Task Force on Transport Costs has been established in October 2009 to assess the procedural bottlenecks affecting India's imports and exports."

"The Task Force will look into various issues affecting the competitiveness of Indian exports and suggest remedial measures to reduce transaction costs and thereby facilitate exports.

Report of the Task Force will be submitted in a few months," Scindia added. (ANI)