APMC traders call off strike

OCTOBER 6: The four day-old agitation by the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) traders at Vashi was called off on Saturday.Annou...

OCTOBER 6: The four day-old agitation by the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) traders at Vashi was called off on Saturday.

Announcing the end of the agitation, the Traders’ Action Committee (TAC) convenor Mohan Gurnani claimed that the authorities had agreed to maintain a status quo on the cess at 0.1 per cent, a claim which was denied by Sudhakar Kulkarni, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner.

Reacting to Gurnani’s statement, Kulkarni said, “It was agreed upon to refer the matter to a two-member committee.”

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The status quo will be maintained with regard to the collection of cess through the APMC channel without requiring a separate registration by the trade, he said.

The traders were protesting the increase in cess from 0.1 to 0.3 per cent, despite the government’s assurance that wholesale markets would not be subjected to any octroi.

The minister of state for Urban Development, Ravindra Mane, convened a meeting at Mantralaya at the instance of Thane Guardian Minister Ganesh Naik to discuss the account-based cess imposed by the NMMC.

All parties in the NMMC agreed to set up a two-member committee comprising the secretaries of Urban Development and Cooperation departments to suggest ways to tackle the issue, Kulkarni said. The report is expected within a week.