"Our Daami(commission of 2.5 per cent be restored which has been replaced by fixed amount of Rs 46 per quintal," demanded Federation of Ahartia Association Punjab.
Faridkot
Federation of Ahartia Association Punjab on Wednesday held a chetna rally in Talwandi Bhai town of Ferozepur district to discuss the issues being faced by them.
According to the state president of the Federation of Ahartia Association Punjab Vijay Kalra, the ahartias are facing many problems in the grain markets due to the faulty policies of the state and union governments.
“Earlier, we used to get 2.5 percent commission on the sale of each commodity but it was done away with in 2019 and our commission was fixed at Rs 46 only. Which is too low and we want the restoration of earlier commission,” said Vijay Kalra addressing the ahartias.
It is hitting us very hard lakhs of people are directly and indirectly dependent on grain markets, he said.
The Federation leaders demanded the increase in loading rates from Rs 1.80 paisa per bag to Rs 4.
They said that our neighboring state Haryana is paying Rs 3.23 per bag for the same work.
They further demanded the commission on the sale of wheat sold at Adani Silos in village Dagroo in Moga.
“We have been paid only Rs 23 per quintal as commission while it is only 50 percent of the current fixed rate of Rs 46. The rest of the amount be paid to us,” they said.
“The FCI has been withholding Rs 50 crore of the ahartias from across the state on the pretext of EPF. But commission agents have nothing to do with it as they do not hire regular and permanent employees,” said Ashok Kumar Goel, president of Ahartia Association Kotkapura, who joined the chetna rally along with 60 commission agents from Kotkapura.
Goel further said that ahartias have to pay for the shortage of purchased wheat and paddy.
He said that when the produce is purchased, even within the fixed limit of moisture, it gets drier because it is not lifted by the agencies. Then the commission agents are asked to compensate for the shortage which is illegal.
The representatives of the Federation also raised the issue of the increase in the stamp duty by .25 paisa.
“Earlier, the commission agents and other agricultural related industries had to pay up to Rs 1000 as stamp duty. But with this increase, they have to pay much higher than earlier because the traders have their credit limits running into crores of rupees,” they said.
They also demanded the smooth procurement of the paddy in the upcoming season.
The responsibility of lifting the produce procured by the government agencies should lie with the inspector of the concerned purchase agency.
But this responsibility is shifted to the ahartias and they have faced many problems, such as shortage of weight and quality of the grains, they said.
Vijay Kalra further demanded that the purchase of the cotton should be made through ahatias.
He said that the cotton is being purchased by the cotton corporation of India directly from the farmers and they are paid on commission on it. We demand that it should be purchased through the commission agents.
The rally was joined by a large number of commission agents from many districts.