Relief for Himachal apple growers in cheating cases

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, November 10

Farmers might be agitating for continuation of agriculture produce marketing committees (APMCs) at Singhu border but hundreds of apple growers in Himachal have been cheated by commission agents registered in the APMCs.

The commission agents fail to pay the growers after buying their stock of apples. They either disappear or simply refuse to pay the money. A large number of such cases were coming to fore from the APMCs at Shimla, Solan and Kullu.

In a bid to provide relief to these apple growers, the state CID had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) in 2019 to deal with such cheating cases.

Though a commission agent is supposed to get himself registered with the APMC, the latter has failed to provide his key details such as permanent address. With scarce information available with the growers such agents are difficult to trace.

As many as 1,700 complaints have been received by the SIT ever since its constitution in 2019. A large number of these cases pertained to the pre-2019 period.

Superintendent of Police, Virender Kalia, who heads the SIT, said that, “About 300 complaints were pending though a large number have been sorted out and money worth Rs 20 crore has been returned to the apple growers since it was constituted in 2019.”

He said an attempt was made to resolve the cases by arriving upon mutual agreements where the agents agree to pay the money in installments. In other cases, FIRs have been registered to bring the erring agents to book.

“As many as 125 FIRs were registered by the SIT in various districts like Shimla, Kullu and Solan since 2019. Efforts are being made to resolve the complaints by the investigation officers by amicably arriving upon an agreement with the commission agent,” informed Kalia.

“The agents are directed to make payments to the apple growers in fixed instalments and this is verified by securing the details of their bank transactions. This has helped to resolve a large number of cases,” observed the SP.

About 70 to 80 cases were registered in 2019 and about 25 to 30 in 2020 and about 300 complaints were pending. The constitution of the SIT has acted as a deterrent as such cases were on the decline observed the SP.

The state’s apple economy is worth Rs 4,000 crore. About 30 to 35 per cent of the produce is sold at Delhi’s Azadpur Mandi, while the rest is transported to the wholesale markets in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Jaipur and other states.

SIT recovers Rs 20 cr

• Commission agents fail to pay the growers after buying their stock of apples
• 1,700 complaints have been received by SIT
• A large number of these cases pertained to the pre-2019 period.
• 125 FIRs were registered by SIT in various districts like Shimla, Kullu and Solan since 2019

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