Sale of agricultural produce in market committees have come to a standstill owing to the cash crunch following the demonetisation move. Deprived of cash, the traders at Lasalgaon — Asia’s biggest onion market in Nashik — have been unable to buy onion from farmers for the past five days.
Jaydutta Holkar, chairman, Lasalgaon APMC, said, “Business here takes place in cash. Huge quantities of onion is brought here daily and traders handle large amounts of money. Demonetisation has left traders with no money to pay farmers. We cannot even force them to accept onions from farmers.”
Market committee rules state that a farmer has to be paid within 24 hours of a trader buying his produce. “It is impossible to pay. Even credit won’t work as it is usually a large amount,” said Nanasaheb Patil, former chairman of Lasalgaon APMC. He said the markets were likely to reopen on Tuesday.
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Mr. Holkar said, “Traders have written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis asking him to allow them to deal in old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes. This will even benefit farmers. We hope to get a positive response.”
APMCs across the State, including Mumbai, are facing a similar crisis. On Monday, a traders’ organisation requested Mr. Fadnavis to grant them permission make transactions using old notes. A senior official of the Navi Mumbai APMC said, “Every transaction in the market committee is a white one. There is no question of hiding anything from the government. The traders feel running the business like before won’t do much harm.”
Traders have claimed that APMCs in the State have witnessed a fall in business since the demonetisation move. However, government officials have said that there has been no shortfall in the produce arriving at the Navi Mumbai APMC. As cash is the only accepted mode of payment, traders have claimed that their business has declined by more than 50 per cent.
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Sanjay Pansare, former director of the Navi Mumbai APMC and a fruit trader, said before November 8, around 300 fruit vehicles arrived at the APMC. Now, it has come down to 160-170. “The market is down by 60-70 per cent. The government should circulate more Rs. 100 and Rs. 500 notes than Rs. 2000.”
Rajendra Shelke, a trader of onions and potatoes, said the government’s decision of introducing plastic money and going cashless is worrying. He said, “We have to meet all our needs with limited cash. If this continues, we will have to sit at home.”