Mahila Kisan Union Castigates Bhagwant Mann for Favoring Corporates, Calls on Congress to Clarify Position on Mandis’ Disbandment
Govt To Incur Losses For Non Collection of Market Fees From Silos
SKM to Stage Protest Against AAP Government in Mohali on April 8 : Biba Raju
Chandigarh, April 2, 2024 – In a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab government’s decision to dismantle established state agricultural markets in favor of corporate grain silos, the Mahila Kisan Union has asked the Punjab Congress to clarify its stance on this critical issue, given its alliance with the ‘INDIA’ coalition in the upcoming general elections.
Biba Rajwinder Kaur Raju, President of the Mahila Kisan Union (MKU), alleged in a statement that naïveté Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has deliberately and wistfully weakened the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) Act to dismantle the ‘mandi’ system in the state, allowing corporates to independently manage buying, selling, storing, and processing wheat and paddy in their silo-based ‘mandis’.
“In this way the government would incur a huge loss as market fee couldn’t be collected from the procurement centres at silos. This duality aligns with the agenda of the three farm laws, which were repealed following the historic Kisan Andolan by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on the Delhi borders two years ago,” she asserted.
Calling on the Congress party to clarify its stance on the closure of operating ‘anaj mandis’, women farmer leader Biba Raju informed that the SKM would stage a major protest in Mohali on April 8 against the Mann government’s push to promote corporate interests at the expense of farmers, labourers, mandi employees, commission agents and truckers.
President of MKU, Biba Raju alleged that Bhagwant Mann, under pressure from the Narendra Modi-led BJP government, is favoring corporates and undermining the sacrifices made by 714 farmers to oppose the implementation of the three farm laws, thereby paving the way for further privatization of food grains procurement. She urged traders, market committee officials, and labourers to oppose this decision and join the SKM protests if they wish to remain in the grain markets.
It is noteworthy that the Punjab government had amended the APMC Act to dissolve various market committees and merged ‘anaj mandis’ in nine districts near privately owned 11 silos by integrating them with other nearby mandis. Consequently, silos built by corporate entities have been designated as procurement centers for the sale-purchase, storage, and processing of food grains.
