Wholesale veggie, fruit traders to go on 4-day strike

The wholesale vegetable, fruit and onion and potato traders at the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Vashi have declared a four-day bandh from December 7.

The wholesale vegetable, fruit and onion and potato traders at the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Vashi have declared a four-day bandh from December 7.

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The traders have also threatened to go on an indefinite strike from January if their demands are not met.

They are protesting the government’s proposal to reduce the commission they get from farmers to 6% .

Vegetable market traders usually get 8%, commission, while fruit traders get 10% and the onion and potato traders get 6.5%.

During a meeting of the state APMCs and Marketing State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB) on Saturday, instructions to follow a GR dated May 4, 1977, which stipulates that the traders should charge 6% commission, were given.

Usman Shaikh, president of Market Committee Mahasangh, announced the bandh during a meeting. “We will form an action committee, which will interact with the MSAMB and also put pressure [on the government] during the winter assembly session this month,” said Shaikh.

Shankar Pingle, APMC director from the vegetable market, said, “If MSAMB does not respond to our demand then we will go on an indefinite strike in January. The other APMCs in the state have also said that they will go on strike.”

Another director, Sannjay Pansare, said, “The cost of living is going up. Why then are the traders who provide service to both the farmers and the consumers being penalised?”