Shimla, Aug 11 (Agency) Amidst protests by the commission agents against the new operating procedure announced by the Himachal Pradesh government for selling apples, opposition BJP legislator Balbir Verma on Thursday demanded that the state bring all stakeholders to the consultation table to end the deadlock. Addressing media persons here, Verma said many commission agents and jobbers are engaged in selling and buying apple produce outside the APMC market yards.He said action against such “self-styled middleman” should have been taken on the complaint of apple growers, but yjr Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government is not responding to frequent complaints.
The jobbers are also on protest in Solan and Parala in Shimla district for the last few days, prompting panicky apple growers to sell their produce in Chandigarh, New Delhi and Mumbai. The BJP leader alleged that the state government is creating a lot of hurdles for the gardeners to send and sell everything in the mandis. Police have also received complaints about the illegal auction of apple out side APMC yards, but action has not been taken. He said small gardeners are very upset in Himachal Pradesh and now it has reached the limit. In many areas, the government is threatening the gardeners.