By IANS,
Kolkata : The Forward Bloc, a prominent partner of West Bengal’s Left Front government, Friday said it would not renew the licence of German wholesale major Metro Cash & Carry.
“Our party has decided not to renew the APMC (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee) licence for Metro Cash & Carry unanimously. We will not allow any big investor or foreign investor to eat up the space of small and poor farmers and the intermediaries,” Ashok Ghosh, Forward Bloc state general secretary told reporters here.
The German company started the project of constructing the 100,000 sq ft outlet for an investment of $30 million in Eastern Metropolitan Bypass couple of years back. The entire project got delayed due to land disputes.
It was granted a licence to trade in APMC commodities in 2005, which was subsequently renewed twice in 2006 and 2007 to be valid till March 2008. However, in June 2007 the said licence was unilaterally withdrawn by APMC authorities.
The company filed for the issuance of fresh APMC licence in March 2008 and is still awaiting the same.
The German major already has four stores in India – two in Bangalore, one each in Hyderabad and Mumbai and are partnered by various small and medium businesses like kirana stores, hotels and restaurants.