New ‘highway’ market emerges after APMC shutdown in Pune
Trucks from out of town arrive and park on the highway where local retailers from the Pune transfer the goods to their tempos and return back to the city
After the Pune agricultural produce market committee (APMC) shut down operations two weeks ago, a new market has emerged with farmers bringing in goods from outside Pune and striking deals with local retailers on the highway outside city limits.
Trucks from out of town arrive and park on the highway where local retailers from the Pune transfer the goods to their tempos and return back to the city.
Kiran Waghmare, a farmer from Phaltan sells potatoes and onions to local retailers on the Katraj – Dehu road bypass highway.
“It had become difficult to sell our goods after the APMC market was closed down in Pune, and also the police were not allowing us to come inside the city limits. So most of the farmers decided not to enter the city and wait on the highways to sell our goods. Accordingly, from the last 10 days we stand on the bypass highway, contact our regular retailers in the city and sell our goods. It has made our transactions very easy and without disturbance to the rules and regulations of the lockdown,” Waghmare said.
Another vegetable trader from Kolhapur, Aditya Mohite said, “Farmers are cultivating large number of vegetables across the state but are not able to sell the goods in Pune and Mumbai due to shut down of APMC markets. So what we decided is to not go inside the city, park our vegetable trucks on the highways and sell our goods.”
According to Mohite, traders collect vegetable goods from farmers in their district, load it in one truck and then bring it to Pune on the bypass highway.
“Our truck reaches the designated spot on the highway early morning around 5am, the retailers in Pune bring their tempos, purchase the vegetables and go back,” Mohite said.
A local city retailer, Sameer Chavan who regularly buys vegetables and fruits from these trucks on the highways said the shutdown of APMC has resulted in a shutdown of Market yard which has forced retailers to buy goods on the highway.
“The rates compared to the regular rates at the APMC are a bit high around 10 to 15 per cent more but as we don’t have any option we buy the vegetables. This certainly effects on the common public, as we also sell the vegetables at higher rates,” Chavan said.