Alleging that the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees had wasted or syphoned off government grants, Maharashtra Minister of State for the Agriculture, Sadabhau Khot on August 16 said an inquiry would be conducted into the spending of grants in the last 15 years. Asked about Congress and NCP's opposition to the APMC Act amendment bill, Khot said several leaders from these parties including MLAs were involved in the administration of APMCs. "They fear losing their leadership if farmers are allowed to sell their produce in an open market directly (instead of at APMCs)," he said. "APMCs have wasted huge government grants.I will order an inquiry into how this money was spent," he said. The minister said he was also going to propose appointment of an officer from the office of deputy registrar (co-operative) as secretary of APMCs. "APMCs have wasted and syphoned off large funds received from the state exchequer. They have even looted farmers by imposing levy on loading-unloading, administration charges and in many other ways," Khot said. The minister also said that he was considering 'Sant Tukdoji Maharaj Adarsh Gram' scheme to promote organic farming with the focus on producing export quality vegetables. Being a farmer's son and having spent my life agitating over farmers' issues, I have now got the opportunity to change the face of agricultural ministry, he said. "My ministry will be pro-farmer and will bring reforms in this department," he said. "At present, the horticulture department selects a few farmers from several villages for organic farming (training). Hundreds of crores might have been spent but not a single farmer who has met me says he produced vegetables of export quality. Even the department has no record of vegetables exported from our state," Khot said. "Instead, I will choose specific villages and develop them as 'export villages'," he added.
