Metro Cash and Carry awaiting licence for Kolkata outlet

Kolkata: Metro Cash and Carry, the wholesale division of the Germany-based Metro AG, which planned to open an outlet here two years ago, said Thursday that it was waiting for a fresh licence from the state government to start operation.

The company said it invested in West Bengal on a pre-requisite that it would be given license to trade agri commodities.

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"In line with this, the state government granted a licence to trade in APMC (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee) commodities in 2005, which was subsequently renewed twice in 2006 and 2007 and to be valid till March 2008," the statement said.

"However, in June 2007 the licence was unilaterally withdrawn by the APMC authorities. The company filed for issuance of fresh APMC licence in March 2008 and is still awaiting the same," the company added.

Metro Cash and Carry started setting up the outlet in eastern metropolitan bypass in the city two years back. However, the project got delayed due to land disputes.

After eight months of legal battle, the company finally won permission to resume construction of its first store in the city.

"The project got delayed due to land dispute. But the company completed the entire work within six months of getting the clearance," Minister of State for Sunderbans Affairs Kanti Ganguly, whom the company representatives met few days back to discuss these matters, told IANS.

A spokesperson said the company was now considering an operational re-structuring to start the outlet at the earliest.

"We are hopeful that the matter will be resolved very soon and they will be given the licence so that they can start operations. They have provided employment to so many people here directly and indirectly and we have put forward the matter to Agriculture Minister Naren De," Ganguly added.
Source: IANS