Chandigarh, September 23, 2020: “By passing the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Government of India has made its intentions clear to ignore the strong protests put forward by the State of Punjab,” said Partap Bajwa, member Rajya Sabha, in a letter written to Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
“It must be noted that under Chapter 1 of the Bill, specifically clause 2(m), the Government of India has defined “trade area” as any area or location that does not include the,” physical boundaries of principal market yards, sub-market yards and market sub-yards managed and run by the market committees formed under each State APMC Act in force in India,” Bajwa said.
“In the interim I strongly suggest that the Government of Punjab amends the Punjab APMC Acts, to expand the geographical boundary of “market yards” to cover the entire State. Moreover, Chapter 2 clause 6 of the Bill states “that no market fee or levy can be levied on any farmer in a trade area.” By this wide definition of what entails a trade area, there is a possibility that warehouses under the Food Corporation of India are covered under this clause,” he said.
“Due to this, the State Government of Rajasthan has notified all warehouses of the Food Corporation of India as a procurement centre under the State APMC Act. I urge you to do the same, to ensure that all portions of these Bills cannot come into force in the State of Punjab,” Bajwa said.
“I welcome your move to take these Bills to the Supreme Court, but till then, these are some of the steps that I suggest that should be done to protect the interests of Punjab,” said Bajwa.