Does selling or buying products at lower than MSP is crime?
“A delegation of MP Vyapari Mahasangh met chief minister Chouhan and apprised him about the issues related to sale of agriculture commodities of fair average quality (FAQ) below the MSP. The chief minister assured that no criminal case would be registered against the traders as the government would specify centres for selling agriculture commodities below MSP. In areas where such centres are not declared, purchase will be done as per previous arrangements”, said mahasangh president Gopal Agrawal.
The mahasangh announced that work in all mandis across the state will resume from June 16. In case the traders feel that government has done injustice to them, the strike would again resume from June 30, they said. The furore kicked up when traders’ union threatened to seize work in all the mandis across the state against the chief minister’s announcement. As the protest gained momentum, transactions were affected in 110 mandis while nominal purchases were reported in 126 mandis across the state.
The state Mandi Board had also issued a statement clarifying that below FAQ grains can be purchased at lower than MSP rates with the consent of farmers. However, the traders were not convinced. They felt that sooner or later, the government might issue an order putting a blanket ban on making purchases below the MSP. They also had serious objections about the proposal to lodge criminal cases. Meanwhile, the Mandi Board has made it clear that the government’s initiative on below MSP purchases was not about FAQ food grains.
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