Khammam: The measures being taken by the joint collector have not succeeded in checking the malpractices by private traders in the Khammam Agricultural Market Committee.
Suspending the licences of eight persons will have little impact on their cheating. At one estimate, the farmers are losing Rs 50 crore per year through the illegalities done by private traders.
Except for one or two companies, all the remaining agents are involved in malpractices and deceiving the peasants. The deceptions include: collecting more commission than the stipulated amount, false weighing, fixing the price of produce by forming syndicates, and delayed payments. About 90 per cent of the traders are resorting to the above malpractices in the market.
The joint collector suspended the licenses of: Charit Laze Commission Merchants, Mutyala Udayakrishna Commission Merchants, Sri Laxmi Venkateswara Commission Merchants, Messrs Venkata Sai Krishna Commission Agents, Bandi Ramamoorthy Commission Agents and Manikanta Commission Merchants, M. Krishnaiah and R. Krishnakumari – for weight cheating, not paying marketing fee, income tax avoidance and collecting commission for no reason.
A female farmer, Buchamma, complained about the cheating of private traders to the marketing officials. After investigation it was observed that the farmer Buchamma was cheated of Rs 1,200 on the price of chilli.
Hundreds of such farmers will be found if investigations are done on the total business of the farmers. The same agents used to enter the market by registering themselves under new names.
The merchants give the impression that they are above the government and they don’t care for any authority. K. Veerender, a farmer, said, “The Joint Collector’s gesture of suspending eight licenses will show scant impact. There are many other traders who were cheating the farmers who were left free.”
