Interacting with Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) members here on Tuesday Minister for APMC and Sugar, Shivaraja Tangadagi said the Department is quite serious about computerising all the 144 APMC yards in the State.
Use of electronic weighing machines is made mandatory in order to check traders cheating the farmers, he added.
The minister cautioned the traders who indulged in “white paper” trading, avoiding taxes and trading in goods.
End illegal trading
“The illegal trading in the markets across the State has to come to a halt. We will introduce computerised trading at both the entry and exit points for farmers to inform what and how much they are trading for the day,” he said.
For the initial period, the Agriculture Department will introduce the mechanism on a pilot basis in 8 to 10 APMC, including Bangalore and later extend it to other districts in the State.
Allaying fears on various issues including the cess on traders Tangadagi said as soon as the target of Rs 500 crore is achieved, the cess will be reduced by 0.5 per cent.
“Currently we have accumulated Rs 350 crore. As soon as we reach the target of Rs 500 crore, we will move the Government to reduce the cess rates,” he said.
He said, the Government is ready to allocate space and money up to 25 per cent, as declared in the budget, for cold storage facilities to be set up in the APMC yards in the State.
He said the facilities will be provided to the traders interested in building cold storage units.