The West Bengal government has announced plans to repurpose the defunct ‘Mishti Hub’ at Bamchandaipur in East Burdwan district into a food processing unit, potentially for rice or potato chips manufacturing, ending its four-year closure.
Moumita Biswas Mishra (Photo:ANI)
The West Bengal government has announced plans to repurpose the defunct ‘Mishti Hub’ at Bamchandaipur in East Burdwan district into a food processing unit, potentially for rice or potato chips manufacturing, ending its four-year closure.
Inaugurated in 2017 by then Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with an investment of Rs 3.5 crore, the two-storey commercial hub beside national highway 19 failed to attract sufficient footfall. All 25 retail shops eventually shut down, despite efforts such as local sweet festivals and a diagnostic survey by IIT Kharagpur, which explored packaging sweets for online sales. Travellers continued to prefer Shaktigarh, the country’s renowned langcha hub, located nearby on NH-19.
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Minister of state for Industry, Commerce and Entrepreneurship Moumita Biswas Mishra confirmed the transition after visiting the site, stating that the objective is to utilise government land to drive industrial growth and generate local employment.
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The Mishti Hub was originally conceived to showcase Bengal’s famous sweets, including Burdwan’s GI-tagged ‘Sitabhog’ and ‘Mihidana’, Shaktigarh’s ‘Langcha’, Krishnanagar’s ‘Sarpuria’, Katwa’s ‘Pantua’ and Joynagar’s ‘Moya’ under one roof, offering travellers authentic flavours without entering Burdwan town. However, weak market penetration and heavy operational losses led to its closure.
In contrast, another Mishti Hub near Gate No.3 of Eco Park in New Town, Kolkata, has thrived, with leading sweet manufacturers opening outlets that cater especially to air passengers and connoisseurs of Bengal’s delicacies.
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