K'taka govt cancels private market yard licence of Metro Cash & Carry

The traders of agriculture produce in Bangalore have won their battle against the state government move to grant private market yard licence to German retail giant Metro Cash & Carry.

The traders, who had shut down their shops indefinitely to protest against the move from today, tasted victory in just one day with the chief minister B S Yeddyurappa ordering for the cancellation of licence to Metro Cash & Carry India Pvt Ltd with immediate effect this evening.

"We met the chief minister for last two days and apprised him of the grave situation of the traders. He was convinced with our argument that the private market licence issued to Metro would harm the traders’ interests and in no way benefits the farmers. He agreed to cancel their licence and issued the order this evening evening," Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, President, Bangalore Wholesale Food Grains & Pulses Merchants’ Association told Business Standard.

The state government had issued licence to Metro Cash & Carry India Pvt Ltd on January 18, 2011 to trade in all 112 notified agriculture commodities including pulses and cereals from both its outlets outside the APMC yard in Yeswantpur. This had surprised the traders in the state as they said, "the license had been issued in violation of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee Act (APMC Act)". The Act stipulates that no private trader can sell notified commodities within a 25 km radius from the APMC yards in the state.

Confirming the cancellation of the licence given to Metro Cash & Carry, V B Patil, director, department of agricultural marketing said, "We have cancelled the order issued on January 18 to Metro Cash & Carry. However, the company can continue to trade in perishables like fruits, vegetables and flowers."

After the failure on the part of the department of agricultural marketing to cancel the licence issued to Metro Cash & Carry, the traders met the chief minister over the last weekend and convinced him to cancel the licence.

"We will withdraw the trade bandh with effect from March 1 after informing all our 25 member associations about the cancellation order," Lahoti said.

When contacted, officials of Metro Cash & Carry offered no statement on the cancellation of their licence by the state government.

More than 3,500 shops dealing all the 112 notified agriculture commodities including perishables like onions, potato and vegetables had shut down their shops in three main APMC market yards in Bangalore like Yeswantpur, Old Taragupet and New Taragupet.