Mandi Board officials accused of issuing wrong licences at Vallah in Amritsar
Amritsar, May 2
After resolving the dispute between retail vegetable sellers and Mandi Board officials, commission agents of wholesale fruit and vegetable sellers allege that the latter were issuing licences to operate as commission agents inside the Vallah mandi to those who do not have even shops.
This despite the fact that the Mandi Board cannot erect any infrastructure inside the mandi as it falls in the no-construction zone of the Vallah Army dump.
The market committee issues licenses under the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961. Commission agents of the wholesale Sabji Mandi at Vallah alleged that over 100 people were given licences of commission agents without allotting any shop.
Commission agents Ranjit Singh, Amritpal Singh and Bhupinder Singh in a communiqué to the Principal Secretary, Agriculture Department, and the Secretary, Punjab Mandi Board, stated that officials of the Mandi Board were granting multiple licenses to persons and companies against single shop number. They said this practice had been in vogue since the Mandi was shifted to Vallah about two decades ago.
The licences were issued even to those persons who did not have any shop in the mandi. They said it was not only a violation of the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961, but also of the Allotment Policy 1998 of the Department of Agriculture (Mandi Branch).
They said then licences were issued without there being any premises. In addition, there were several commission agents who were illegally carrying out business in the mandi on roads in vicinity without any licence invariably blocking and congesting the roads and other common areas causing severe congestion at the site and harming business interests of other commission agents who have been running their business for the past few years.
Anil Kumar, secretary of the Mandi Board here, said as per the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961, licenses could be issued to a person interested in doing business in the notified area. Those who did not have a shop took it on rent, he said.
