Mathadi workers, who went on a strike on Monday, resumed work at the APMC onion-potato market on Tuesday after issuing an ultimatum of 15 days to traders to ensure that each sack of produce did not weigh more than 50 kg for loading or unloading.
“There is a notification by the Central government that the load of each sack should be up to 50 kg. Since March 1, 2020, we have been demanding the implementation of this rule,” Tunga Patil, a Mathadi worker, said.
He further said that the protest that was held on Monday was scheduled for April 1, 2020, but due to the pandemic, it was postponed. “But we kept coordinating with the APMC board and finally on November 1, 2020, APMC authorities put up boards in the market specifying that Mathadi workers would not load or unload any sack weighing more than 50 kg. But even now this rule is not being followed and sometimes a sack weighs even more than 70 kg,” Mr. Patil said.
Former MLC Narendra Patil and Mathadi union leaders said that traders needed to follow the government notification and they must ask producers or sellers to send their produce in 50 kg sacks. “This has been implemented in all other markets of APMC except the onion-potato market. The traders have assured use that the issue will be sorted in 15 days’ time, and if not, then the workers would go on an infinite strike bringing the market operations to a standstill,” Mr. Patil said.
Ashok Walunj, director of onion-potato market, and MLC Shashikant Shinde, director of the Mathadi workers’ union, have stepped in as mediators. “We both are following up with the traders to make sure that the Central government’s 50 kg limitation rule is implemented at the soonest,” Mr. Valunj said.
