Karnataka - Bangalore   

Traders at APMC yard observe bandh

Staff Reporter

AGAINST AMENDMENT: Trucks loaded with grain bags were a common sight at the APMC yard at Yeshwantpur in Bangalore on Tuesday because of the bandh called by traders in protest against the move to amend the APMC Act. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: Opposing the State Government's Bill amending the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act, traders at the APMC yard in Yeshwantpur here observed a total bandh on Tuesday.

The Bangalore APMC Yard Action Committee, the Bangalore Wholesale Foodgrains and Pulses Merchants' Association and other related associations have condemned the proposed amendments.The traders have threatened to launch an intensified agitation if the Government passed the Bill without discussing the pros and cons with farmers, traders, porters, lorry owners and loading and unloading daily wage earners.

APMC Yard Action Committee chairman C.P. Subbaraju Setty said that the promise made by the Minister for Agricultural Marketing Sharanabasappa Darshanapur to invite all stakeholders for a discussion with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had not been fulfilled.

In a separate press statement, secretary, Bangalore Wholesale Foodgrains and Pulses Merchants' Association, Bharat Kumar R. Shah said that members of the trading community should be given a copy of the Bill for discussion.

"Instead of reforming and refining functioning of the existing APMCs, it is unfortunate that the Government is bringing in private players. The amendments would result in vanishing of the local market and place Indian farmers at the mercy of multi-national companies," he pointed out.

Business as usual

Tumkur Staff Correspondent reports:

APMC yards in Tumkur district functioned as usual on Tuesday. The yards and the traders did not respond to the Statewide bandh call that was issued by their State-level committee.

The traders opened their shops in the morning. Shankaranarayan, grain merchant, said he had no information about the bandh call.

"At the close of the trading on Monday, there was no announcement about the State Committee's call for the bandh."

"It was business as usual," he said. "However, it does not mean that we are in favour of the Government's action. Private markets will do much harm to the regulated marketing system in the State," he said.

"But, we have already observed a bandh on the issue. We cannot go on repeating it," Mr. Shankaranarayan said.

`No prior information'

Sources in the APMC office, however, said: "The State committee had not communicated the call well in advance. Hence, the Tumkur district APMC yards could not observe bandh on Tuesday."

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