KMSS vegetable shops draw huge crowd
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI,
Feb 25 – In a bid to rid of middlemen, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti
(KMSS) today opened two ‘fair price’ stalls for vegetables at Chandmari
and RG Baruah Road Tiniali after procuring the produce in bulk from
farmers in Barpeta Road where they had been deprived of their due remuneration
due to large-scale presence of middlemen and illegal syndicates in the
trade.Both
the stalls run by the KMSS drew overwhelming response from the citizens
who made a beeline to the stalls to get vegetables at half the price
sold in the city markets.“The response has been so great that we
exhausted our supply meant for the proposed six stalls in the first two
stalls itself. We are committed to sell vegetables at half the market
price here, and will open eight more stalls in the city,” KMSS publicity
secretary Kamal Kumar Medhi said.About a hundred quintals of vegetables were
sold in the two stalls today.The rates
per kg for different vegetables in the two stalls were: cabbage-Rs 5,
cauliflower-Rs 6, tomato-Rs 6, brinjal-Rs 10, squash-Rs 8, German turnip
(ulkabi)-Rs 6, potato-Rs 12, carrot-Rs 7, and coriander (dhaniya)-Rs
15. All these vegetables are being sold in the city’s market at double
this price.The KMSS said that the farmers had been selling their vegetables in
the Barpeta Road wholesale market at very low prices due to the exploitative
working of middlemen. “In
Barpeta Road, the farmers were compelled to sell cabbage at Rs 1.20,
cauliflower at Rs 2.50, tomato at Rs 3, German turnip at Rs 2, coriander
at Rs 9.50, potato at Rs 6, and squash at Rs 7. We have ensured just
prices for them at Rs 4, Rs 5, Rs 5.50, Rs 5, Rs 14, Rs 7 and Rs 9
respectively for these vegetables,” the KMSS said.The consumers
also expressed satisfaction with the KMSS initiative, and asserted that
such efforts could go a long way in eradicating the sinister racket of
middlemen who ran illegal syndicates, exploiting both the grassroots
producers and the consumers in the process.“This is a refreshing and
much-needed development. The government authorities – especially the
Agriculture Department
and the Civil Supplies Department – ought to have done this long back.
The KMSS deserves praise for this, and they must be able to sustain it
and extend it to all the districts of the State,” Biren Deka, a customer at
Chandmari, said.Another customer,
Rajiv Sarma, said that the Government, by its inaction on the thriving
illegal syndicates, was in a way endorsing the nefarious practice, and
that it was time people joined hands to ensure that there was a direct
contact between the producer and the consumer.“Rackets
of middlemen and innumerable goonda taxes imposed on transportation of
vegetables is largely responsible for the exorbitant prices of
vegetables and other products. The Government has turned a blind eye to
these blatant illegalities. It is good that the KMSS is trying to
establish a direct link between the consumers and the producers,” he said.The
KMSS alleged that the skyrocketing prices of vegetables stemmed from
illegal tax collected at 27 gates of the Assam State Agricultural
marketing Board and at police stations, while the products reached the open
market after passing through five-six groups of middlemen.“It
is precisely due to such a situation that German turnip (ulkabi) which
is sold at Rs 1.20 a kg at source is sold at Rs 12 a kg in the markets
of Guwahati. Regrettably, the Government, the Agriculture Minister,
politicians, bureaucrats, police and the nexus of middlemen are never
interested in stopping all these illegalities, which can ensure adequate
remuneration to the producers as well as a just price for the consumers,” the
KMSS said.The
KMSS said that the two stalls at Chandmari and RG Baruah Road Tiniali
would continue for a week on an experimental basis, following which the
stalls would be expanded to other areas of the city provided either the
Government or the public gave the KMSS adequate space. The Assam Chamber of
Commerce has welcomed the KMSS initiative of selling vegetables directly to the
public .
(The Assam Tribune,26.02.2013)
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সমাজৰ কাৰণে ভাল কাম কৰাজনৰ পৰিচয় ৰাইজৰ আগত দাঙি ধৰিব লাগে আৰু ভাল খবৰবোৰ যিমান
পাৰি ৰাইজৰ মাজত বিলাব লাগে।
---- বুলজিৎ বুঢ়াগোহাঁই
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