The cashew processing unit, which was started for the economic empowerment of the Banda tribe in the remote Bandaghati, is now completely defunct. The project, which was set up in 2017 with the aim of making the Banda youth self-reliant, has turned into a symbol of development. The machines inside the unit are rusting and are wasting government property worth lakhs of rupees. According to information, the unit was jointly set up by the Bonda Development Authority (BDA), Khairput Block Administration and ITDA with the aim of processing cashew produce locally in Bandaghati and taking it to the market and providing employment to the local youth. But the unit was defunct after the initial stage of its functioning.
The Khairput Block Chairperson expressed his displeasure and said that despite repeated requests to the District Collector and BDA officials to upgrade and make it operational, the project is stuck in the files. Due to this neglect, the youth of Banda are forced to go out as manual labourers as they are not getting employment. When the ITDA project administrator was asked about this, he said that this unit was closed after a while after its start. The machine that was used earlier was a manual machine and was causing a lot of losses in processing cashews. Therefore, he said that there is a plan to start it again soon with new technology. However, it remains to be seen when this project will start again and the cashews of Bandagha will go to the world market.
