Mathadi workers in Maharashtra to join traders’ bandh today

After traders at Vashi in Maharashtra called for a one-day bandh on Tuesday against the Maharashtra Agricultural Produce Marketing Development and the Regulation Act Ordinance, over 4-5 lakh Mathadi ( workers who carry loads) workers across the state have decided to join the bandh. Due to this, most mandis in Maharashtra may remain shut on Tuesday.

The Ordinance, submitted by Cooperation Minister Subhash Deshmukh in the winter session of the state Assembly, has been opposed by Mathadi workers across the state.The call for the bandh has also received support from traders at Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Latur which have been declared as Markets of National Importance (MNIs) by the state government.

Mathadi leaders Shashikant Shinde and Narendra Patil met with the Minister for Cooperation and Marketing Subhash Deshmukh and had sought more clarity on the role of commission agents in agricultural produce market committees (APMCs) as well as transactions on eNAM.

They are opposing their lack of representation on the new nominated boards that would come up in the MNIs and also new government resolutions (GRs) on loans given to Mathadis by the credit societies. According to Mathadi labour unions, there are approximately four to five lakh Mathadi workers in the state.

Mathadis across the state would be joining the strike. Therefore, all the mandis in Nashik, including Lasalgaon, Latur, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, among others, will remain shut.

Narendra Patil, general secretary of Maharashtra Rajya Mathadi, Transport, and General Kamgar Union, said all APMC trade unions across Maharashtra would be part of the strike. We met CM Fadnavis, cooperation minister Deshmukh and revenue minister Chandrakant Patil to discuss the Ordinance.
“Our workers are not getting bank loans and now they have to submit guarantees from their respective unions that the loan would be repaid by the Union, which is very unfair on the worker,” he said. He said another meeting will be held with the CM on Tuesday, seeking change in the GR as well as the issue of representation on the boards.

If this is not done, Mathadis will decide the future course of action and continue the strike, he said. Baba Adhav’s Hamal Panchayat has also decided the bandh.

Traders at Vashi are protesting against the state government’s decision to de-notify all agriculture commodities from mandis.As per the Ordinance issued on October 25, farmers and traders are free to sell their produce within and outside the APMCs.The move did not go well with traders at APMC as they alleged a discrimination against them.

Calling for a level playing field, Walchand Sancheti, president of the Federation of Trader Associations of Maharashtra, pointed out that if trade was freed up by the government outside the mandis, similar rules should be applied within the APMCs as well. He said APMCs should not levy charges on traders within the mandis since it would clearly mean a discrimination against them. Mohan Gurnani, chairman, Chamber of Associations of Maharashtra Industry Trade, along with representatives of associations said the traders and Hamals had shifted to Vashi because the government wished to decongest the city.