Mumbai: Maharashtra is to have a Minister for Marketing who will head the five biggest agricultural produce market yards in Maharashtra and will supervise the day-to-day trading of agricultural produce as well. Based on the concept of the Model Act introduced by the central government, the state will notify five market yards as national markets.
These have an annual turnover of more than 80,000 metric tonnes, and where 30 percent of agricultural produce comes from two or more states. Of the 305 market committees that control the local market yards, five qualify for the Market of National Importance (MNI), where the day-to-day affairs are to be controlled by the state government and not by the elected bodies.
About The Five Market Yards
The five market yards include the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Navi Mumbai, along with Pune, Nagpur, Solapur, and Latur districts. A few more will be added to the list, sources say. The proposal to announce the MNI in Maharashtra awaits cabinet nod. The report of the cabinet subcommittee headed by Marketing Minister Jaikumar Rawal (BJP) has already been submitted.
According to sources, the proposal is waiting for a nod from Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who heads the NCP and is likely to lose control over the Pune Market Yard. The move by the BJP-led Mahayuti government is likely to trigger a fresh debate, say the sources. The move is sure to create ripples in areas where the big market yards exist, since the market committees elected by farmer representatives are political strongholds of local leaders and have vote banks. It will be seen as BJP’s attempt to wrest control from the influential leaders of the Congress and the NCP, who traditionally head the elected bodies. For instance, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar controls the affairs of the Pune Market Yard, and Congress leader Amit Deshmukh controls Latur.
The APMC in Navi Mumbai is the state apex body, which is also controlled by the NCP and the Congress leaders, whose directors are elected from the local market committees from the revenue divisions across the state. The move will loosen the grip of local satraps over these markets. After the MNI status, traders from the market will enjoy a unified licence to purchase and sell agricultural produce across the state. There is no provision for this now
