Assam: Unity Mall Planned To Be Set Up in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: The government of Assam is has completed the preparations to build a Unity Mall (Ekta Mall) in Guwahati with the stated objective of promoting national and regional integrity among the people by way of making available products from the state, region and other states.

According to reports, while the exact site is yet to be worked out, it is being built as a place to promote and facilitate a common marketplace for local goods, as well as products from other states.

The ‘Unity’ mall, in line with such malls across the country, will also be a marketplace for One District One Product (ODOP) products, handicrafts, and GI products, along with other regional products.

According to available information, the building will consist of two levels of basement, a ground floor, and five storeys above them with multiple facilities.

The mall is also set to feature 35 shops for each state and UTs, 35 shops for Assam’s districts, shops for Indian commercial brands, a food court, yoga and meditation area, an art gallery, dormitories, etc.

The mall will also help promote Make in India and local products among the local population as well as visitors, in turn helping local artisans and producers, providing an avenue of employment and sales of their products, thus increasing their income while ensuring the reach of their products to a wider clientele.

CM Himanta Biswa Sarma took to his Twitter handle to post, “Very few leaders since Independence have worked as hard as Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji to promote national integration. The one-of-its-kind Unity Mall will soon be a reality in Assam.”

PM Modi envisaged national integration through trade and birthed the vision of a common marketplace for local goods. In line with PM Modi’s vision, Govt of India has encouraged states to setup Unity malls for sale of ODOPs, handicrafts and GI products, along with sales of products from other states.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in the Budget this financial year that states across the country would be encouraged to set up a “Unity Mall” in their capitals, their most prominent tourism centres, or their financial capitals.

While the Finance Minister did not exactly specify what the “unity mall” would be, the constituent of its physical or non-physical structure, or how it would be made to work. However, she offered the view that the unity malls would have their focus on the promotion and sale of the particular state’s own “ODOPs (one district, one product), GI products and other handicraft products, and for providing space for such products of all other States”.

Guwahati, being the capital city of Assam and gateway to the Northeast, is considered to be the perfect place for the setting up of such a Unity mall in Assam.

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