Scrap APMC Act 2017 in special assembly session: Sukhbir to Capt

Chandigarh Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday demanded that the “anti-farmer and pro-corporate” provisions in the APMC Act 2017 enacted

Chandigarh Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday demanded that the “anti-farmer and pro-corporate” provisions in the APMC Act 2017 enacted by the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government must be scrapped in the special Vidhan Sabha session.

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Commenting on the chief minister’s statement on the convening of special assembly session, Sukhbir said the CM’s U-turn on the session was a “decisive first victory” of the SAD and the farmer organisations. This was one of the major objectives of the kisan march held by the party on October 1, along with the annulment of the Centre’s three laws on farm marketing, he said in a statement.

Badal recalled how Amarinder had ridiculed the Akali demand saying that this was no solution to the problem. “Seeing the intensity of the Punjabis, especially the farmers, Amarinder has felt compelled to take this U-turn and agree to convene the session. The scrapping of the provisions of the anti-farmer APMC Act, along with declaring the whole of the state of Punjab as notified mandi or principal market area, have been the consistent demands of the SAD while urging the state govt to convene a special session of the state assembly,” he said.

He said though the Centre’s laws must be rejected by the state assembly, yet a mere rejection would have no practical implication or utility for the farmers if the APMC Act remained in force in the state. “The only way to render the Centre’s legislation redundant and un-implementable in Punjab is to put the whole of the state beyond the purview of the central laws by declaring the whole of the state a principal market area or notified mandi because they are not applicable in areas declared as markets by a state government,” he said.