SAD asks Jakhar to clarify on changes in ‘anti-farmer’ APMC Act

Asking the PPCC chief to tell why he was trying to befool the farmers, former minister Daljit Singh Cheema asked him to explain why he was hiding the fact that the Congress government had amended the State APMC Act in August 2017 to allow creation of private yards, e-trading and direct marketing

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday asked Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Sunil Jakhar to do a ‘jan andolan’ against chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh who had amended the State Agriculture Produce Markets Committee (APMC) Act in 2017 to include all the provisions of the Farming Produce Trade and Commerce Ordinance-2020 which was passed by the Centre recently.

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Asking the PPCC chief to tell why he was trying to befool the farmers, former minister Daljit Singh Cheema asked him to explain why he was hiding the fact that the Congress government had amended the State APMC Act in August 2017 to allow creation of private yards, e-trading and direct marketing.

“The Congress government is also party to passing of the farming produce ordinance. It participated in the consultative process and also gave feedback to the Centre that it had already amended the State APMC Act to enable implementation of the proposed ordinance,” he said.

Cheema said Jakhar should clarify if the amendment to the State APMC Act by his government was right or wrong. “If he feels it was an anti-farmer step, he should start his jan andolan from the chief minister’s residence in Chandigarh and force the government to take it back.”