Taking note of complaints by farmers against sugar mills that are said to have cheated growers while weighing sugarcane, Minister for Textiles, Sugarcane Development and Agricultural Marketing Shivanand Patil has warned such wrong-doing sugar mills of cancelling their licence.
“Growers should get their sugarcane weighed at APMC for free and get a receipt. That load should again be weighed at the sugar mills. If there is any discrepancy in the weight of the produce, they should give a written complaint against the mills. We will examine it and cancel the licence of mills if the latter are found guilty. The problem is that farmers often don’t come forward to give complaints,” Mr. Patil told media representatives in Kalaburagi on Wednesday.
“APMCs are collecting cess of 60 paise for every ₹100 transaction. There are complaints that the cess collected is misused. There are allegations that local agents are involved in it. There are complaints that outsiders are transacting their business inside APMC. Traders who have obtained trade licence cannot give it to others to facilitate them to purchase farm produce from farmers inside APMC. We will form a vigilance squad and address these issues. Once the new Act of APMC comes into force, all these problems will be resolved,” he said.
Meeting of traders
Mr. Patil later paid a visit to the Kalaburagi APMC Yard and held a meeting of traders to collect opinion on the proposal to replace the APMC Act amended by the previous BJP government with a new one. It is learnt that many traders showed their interest in the new legislation.
“The Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020 introduced by the Union government did not help farmers or traders. Though farmers can sell their produce outside the APMC, their problems remain unchanged. The Act does not protect farmers against price and weight manipulations. APMC authorities have no power to address such issues under the Act,” a trader said in the meeting.
Another trader specifically pointed out the injustice meted out to farmers outside the APMC in the matters of price fixing and weighing and demanded that the government expand the power of APMC officials to safeguard the farmers interests.
“After the APMC Act was amended, the traders were allowed to purchase farm produce outside APMC. Taking advantage of the freedom, they cheated farmers in price fixing and weighing the produce. APMC officials don’t have the authority to address such issues. Our farmers are not aware enough to approach the Deputy Commissioner with complaints. The new Act must address the issue,” another trader said.
Farmers leaders absent
Farmers leaders did not attend the meeting as they were not informed about it. When asked, they said that they were unaware of the meeting and their role in it.
“We were aware of the Minister’s visit to APMC but not about the meeting convened for seeking stakeholders opinions on the APMC Act. That is why we simply met the Minister and submitted a memorandum to him. The officials concerned should have informed and involved us,” a farmers leader said.
