MANISH RAJ
Deoghar, April 27: Different trade unions of Deoghar staged a symbolic protest against the agriculture marketing tax imposed by the state govt on Wednesday. The protest ran for two hours near Deoghar Collectorate.
The agitation was carried out mainly by the Santhal Pargana Chamber Of Commerce & Industries phase-wise but in today’s event, almost eight different trade organisations participated.
The trade organisations were associated with fruits, vegetables, food grains, rice mills, retail traders etc.
Talking to lagatar24.com, the president of Santhal Pargana Chamber of Commerce & Industries Alok Mallik questioned the imposition of the bill in such a state like Jharkhand where agriculture is not the main occupation.
He claimed that Jharkhand is a mining state so the provisions given in the bill do not suit the state. He said that the idea behind this bill suits the states where agriculture is the main occupation and agro products are traded in mandis and these mandis have been made available and maintained by state governments. So those states deserve to levy 0-2 percent as agriculture tax but there is not a single ‘mandi’ in Jharkhand. Even the ‘Bazar Samiti campus has a miserable condition of infrastructures like roads, sanitation, drinking water and other basic facilities.
The protest against the bill has been held in four phases till now and in the next phase, the trade unions will conduct signature campaigns of MLAs and MPs in their respective areas.
Alok Mallik also warned that if the bill is not withdrawn, after May 15, the agitation will be aggressive and the transportation of food grain vegetables and fruits will be blocked.
