Nashik known for its cold temperatures, has started experiencing a chill in the weather. The city had seen a pleasant few days people were enjoying the winter.

On Thursday December 22, 2011, the temperature was 9.8 degrees Celsius which dropped further by a degree the next day. While the morning and evenings show a dip in the temperature, the afternoons are still warm with around 28 degrees Celsius.

The winter has also seen the arrival of visiting birds at Nandur Madhmeshwar bird sanctuary and many enthusiasts are seen flocking about 50 kms away from the city to watch the visiting birds.

The city wears a colorful look as people are seen dressed in winter clothing. Bonfires at nook and corners is a common sight.

The mood in the city is festive with children busy with school functions and cultural programmes. The city is also witnessing the 20-20 Nashik Premier League cricket matches and exhibitions like the Children’s festival.

“Winters in Nashik are good. A few years ago the winters used to be really cold. By December the temperatures dropped around 5 degrees Celsius. A nice chill is awaited which gives an occasion for hurda parties on the farms and savouring of other winter delicacies”, says Vikram Giridarshan who lives in Nashik.

The TMCs will come up in Mumbai [ Images ], Nashik and Nagpur. The Rs 250-crore (Rs 2.5 billion) worth Mumbai TMC will come up on 92 acres of land at Babgaon, three kms away from Kalyan on the Nashik-Kalyan Road in Bhiwandi situated in Thane district.

The government has invited applications from reputed players in the field of agri-business, infrastructure development with Request for Qualification (RFQ) in order to shortlist eligible and competant authorities who can subsequently bid for Terminal Market complex for perishables.

“Under the present marketing system, producers and consumers suffer the most. The quantum of middlemen is also too high. Terminal Market is being built to reduce post harvest losses which are now upto 30-40 per cent for perishable goods like fruits and vegetables,” Marketing Minister Harshvardhan Patil told PTI.

Also, farmers will get more remunerative returns by cutting losses and reducing middlemen, he said. Terminal Market Complex is a place where agro products especially pershiables like fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs, meat, poultry and non-perishables like food grains, oil seeds, pulses, cereals are brought from collection centres and processed.

Principal Secretary (Marketing) S K Goyal said that 7-8 bidders have submitted requests for qualification (RFQ) to build the terminal market in Thane district near Mumbai. The shortlisting of bidders will be completed by this month end following which they will be asked to submit the proposals.

With a daily handling capacity of an estimated 3000 metric tonnes, the terminal will provide state-of-the art infrastructure to electronically auction, grade, wash, package, process and export perishable and non-perishable products, Patil informed.

The Nashik Terminal Market, with an estimated project cost of Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) will have handling capacity of 1000 metric tonne/day. About 100 acre of land will be required, Patil said. While the TMC at Nagpur will have an handling capacity of 750 metric tonnes per day and will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 55 crore (Rs 550 million), he said.

Goyal said the government has yet to identify land in Nashik and Nagpur and hand it over to the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board for the bids to be invited. Global tender notice issued earlier for Mumbai TMC was cancelled due to poor response. Bidders who applied for fresh RFQ will be shortlisted and Request for Proposal (RFP) will be sought following which contracts will be awarded, Patil said.

The central government will provide equity assistance upto 49 per cent of project equity, returnable at market/fair value to be decided at appropriate time, he said. Patil said the Public Enterprise which wins the contract has full freedom to fix service charges based on commercial and viability considerations.
The highest bidder will set up collection centres which will be connected to the TMCs which will help reduce post harvest losses, Patil said.

Apart from reducing the post harvest losses due to the present marketing system, Terminal Markets will link farmers directly to the markets and provide more alternatives to sell their produce and reduce the number of intermediaries.

The Terminal Market complex concept comes from the National Horticulture Mission launched by the Centre in 2005-06 and there will be 21 TMCs in the entire country. TMCs will also help promote export of horticulture produce and processing in the state.

It will initiate the system of using modern technologies in the marketing system and establish a cold chain with the help of private players.

The Terminal Markets will be established in a Public, Private Partnership mode. The proportion of non-perishables in the Terminal Markets shall not exceed 15 per cent of the throughput capacity of the Market.

Similarly, the proportion of non-horticulture products within the perishable commodities shall not exceed 15 per cent of the total throughput of the market. TMCs will lead to creation of more employment opportunities and also check bogus stocking, he said.

The equity from the state government will be in form of land for the Mumbai TMC has already been handed over to the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board which is the nodal agency.

Sulafest 2010 promises to be bigger and better than ever before, with an awesome band line-up featuring headlining act Jalebee Cartel – India’s most successful live electronic dance music act. Catch them at Sulafest 2010 before they leave for an extensive tour of Europe this summer!

Spicing up this great musical line-up will be eclectic food stalls, including kebabs and pastas & pizzas freshly made at Sula’s very own vineyard restaurants, to be washed down with a wide array of local and imported wines. SULAFEST 2010 will also feature the ‘Sulafest Bazaar’ – art and craft shops, clothing, eco-friendly gifts, and other food stalls. Other activities on-site will include a live acoustic act, Tarot card reader, relaxing foot massages, jewellery stalls, tattoo and nail artists, a caricature artist, hair braiders, stand-up comedian, and more!

Tickets available at: www.bookmyshow.com Mumbai : Sante, Rhythm House, Little Italy (Juhu), Godrej Nature’s Basket, Mocha, The Bagel Shop (Bandra), Haiko Pune : Little Italy, Mocha Nashik : Sula Vineyards, Café Express, Foodmart, Planet M For more info dial :+91 9004608547/ 022 67211900

Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Chairman and Managing Director Shekhar Bajaj hinted that the company might enhance its investment in the Nashik company in the coming years, based on market potential. “Bajaj makes 280 million units of CFLs annually now, compared 350 million units of conventional bulbs. The relatively higher prices of CFLs limit volume growth, though not revenues. During the past year we also had to contend with higher costs of most inputs like aluminium, copper and zinc.”

A change in government policy which allowed recycling of CFLs could help, Mr. Bajaj felt. The future in lighting might belong to LEDs with their advantages like coloured and diffused light if the consumer wanted to, he added.

http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_b/bajaj_electricals/20100209_starlite_lighting.html

The SEZ, which is to be located in the industrial corridor of Nashik, Sinnar and Igatpuri, will be spread over 2,500 acres, Kishore Gajabhiye of Indiabulls, who is heads the project, told reporters here last evening.

The multi-product enclave will have units related to auto components, medicine production, food, engineering and IT among others. It will also house an international trading centre, hotels, schools, entertainment park and hospital, he said.

The company, however, did not give the estimated investment or timeframe of the project. This will be Indiabulls’ third SEZ after Mumbai and Pune.

The group’s proposed 1,335 Mw thermal power project in Sinnar is likely to see investments of Rs 25,000 crore and create thousands of jobs, Gajabhiye said.

Of the total power generated, 950 Mw will be given to Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company, he added.

Indiabulls is a leading player in financial sector, real estate and energy services.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/indiabulls-to-develop-2500-acre-sez-near-nashik/384844/

“Nashik is the biggest producer of horticulture and floriculture products in the state. The district is also developing rapidly as one of the best agricultural sector on the national map. But the district lacks facilities for exporting the produce,” Sudhir Thakre, secretary General Administration (Aviation) Department told Sakaal Times.

Nashik is developing fast as a growth center for industry and agriculture. Cultivated agricultural area is nearly 56% of the total area, the major produce being grapes, onions, flowers and sugarcane. Apart from this, bajra, rice and jowar are the main kharif crops of Nasik district. Cotton and groundnuts are also grown here. Nasik is also now the Wine Capital of India; with the industry growing at a steep rate of 70% a year for the past five years.

“Transportation of some of the perishable and much sought for products becomes very difficult as it has to be transported to Mumbai first via road and then from there it is exported by air route. Since this is a long procedure we were considering of a proposal to set up facilities to use the airport as a cargo hub,” said. The estimated expenditure to set up the facilities is estimated to be Rs 180 crore which would be shared by HAL and the state government after negotiations.

“Sukhoi 30MKI, which are manufactured at the Nashik division of HAL is now-a-days used as the aircraft testing ground. The heliport is generally used for only 3-4 months in a year for testing purpose. So we asked HAL to make the airport available as agro cargo hub,” he said.

Thakre further added that this initiative will also help generating employment as supplementary businesses would flourish here.

http://www.sakaaltimes.com/SakaalTimesBeta/20100201/5560499295750327937.htm