Maha govt withdraws bill that seeks to amend APMC Act

The state government Wednesday withdrew the bill that seeks to amend the Maharashtra Agricultural Produce Marketing (Development and Regulation) Act from the Legislative Council.

The bill was passed in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

In October, the BJP-led government had allowed farmers and traders to sell their yield outside the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC), calling it a "pro-farmer" move.

After the bill was passed in the Lower House on Tuesday, the APMCs, largely controlled by the NCP, had announced a two-day state-wide shutdown. The bill which sought to deregulate APMCs sparked off protests by mathadi workers (head loaders) in the state.

A source from the agriculture department said the bill sought to allow farmers to sell produce outside the APMC market yards.

In the legislative council, 10 members, including Prasad Lad, Vijay Girkar (both BJP), Neelam Gorhe and Anil Parab (both Shiv Sena) moved a motion seeking to refer the bill to a select committee of the House for review.

"We had already warned the government that the bill is against the mathadi workers, but they didn't listen to us and today all the wholesale yards are on strike," Dhananjay Munde, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, said.

Through the bill, the state government is seeking to free essential items from the purview of the APMC Act which will allow those items to be sold outside the market yards as well. The bill also provides that traders who conduct their business inside the market yard will also be taxed. It also allows online trading facilities, initially in 210 such markets of the total 307.