Merchants operating from the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) yards across the State have decided to observe an APMC Bandh on December 21 in protest against the government’s decision to hike the APMC cess to 1%.
A decision to this effect was taken at an emergency meeting of APMC workers at the Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) in Hubballi on Friday.
APMC merchants from Haveri, Ranebennur, Byadgi, Gadag, Koppal, Ballari, Dharwad, Vijayapura, Mahalingapur, Laxmeshwar, Bagalkot, Belagavi, and other places had taken part in the meeting.
After elaborate discussion, the meeting resolved to hold the bandh on December 21, in protest against a government order, dated December 12, increasing the APMC cess to 1%.
Making introductory remarks. president of the APMC Action Committee and former Chairman of Karnatak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Shankranna Munavalli told the participants that Director of Agricultural Marketing Karigoudar visited KCCI, Hubballi, on October 9 to participate in an interaction with merchants during which several technical issues were resolved.
Subsequently, the merchants had welcomed the decision of the government to reduce the cess to 0.35 % and accordingly had continued purchases at APMC yards.
However now the government had again hiked the cess to 1%, revoking the earlier order, he said.
Various merchants, including former chairman V.P. Linganagoudar, chairman of FKCCI APMC committee P.D. Shirur, president of Merchants’ Association Basavaraj Yaklaspur, AAP leader Vikas Soppin, and others, took part in the discussion. Finally a decision to hold the bandh on December 21 was taken.
The meeting also decided to hold protest marches at all the APMC yards and submit memoranda to the respective APMC secretaries. The meeting also decided to urge the government to impose the same percentage of cess for transactions done inside and outside the APMCs.
Mr. Munavalli later announced that a meeting of APMC merchants from across the State would be held at the FKCCI office in Bengaluru at 11 a.m. on December 23 to decide the next course of action on the issue.
It might be recalled that in July, the APMC merchants closed down the APMC yards seeking implementation of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation Ordinance), 2020, in toto and abolition of cess and fees for transactions done in the APMC yards.
They had said that after the ordinance on amendments to the APMC Act, those operating from the APMC yards were being made to pay extra while those operating from outside the yard are exempted.
