MVA TO JOINTLY CONTEST MUMBAI APMC POLLS

The polls have been slated for February 29

Maha Vikas Aghadi partners, Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress, are jointly contesting the election of the Mumbai Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) slated for February 29. Of the 25 posts, 18 are elected and the balance 7 are nominated by the state government. In all, 180 candidates are in the fray for 18 posts. Friday is the last day for the withdrawal of nominations.

Mumbai APMC, which is situated at Vashi, Navi Mumbai, is India's richest APMC with an annual turnover of Rs 20,000 crore. It is currently under the administrators' rule since December 2, 2014.

Three parties have joined hands together to win majority and, thereby, corner BJP in the committee. MVA has taken the election quite seriously as the committee is engaged in the transactions in fruits, food grains, vegetables, sugar and spices. More than 2,000 trucks arrive daily in the market.

NCP leader, who is engaged with the poll exercise, told

FPJ, ''This is the first major poll in the cooperative and marketing sector being contested jointly by alliance partners. The BJP-led government, after assuming power, had placed APMC under the administrator's rule to checkmate the NCP-Congress dominance. The governments before that, however, did not initiate election process, which is now being conducted by the MVA government.'' The BJP-led government had promised to provide international facilities in APMC, though little has been done on this front. The elected board will put this job on fast track.

He informed that Maharashtra has 306 APMCs with main markets and 598 sub markets that streamline and regulate the marketing of agricultural and pisciculture commodities, from the same market area or any area thereof. A hierarchical and systematic board does the management of the produce through APMC. ''However, the constitution of Mumbai APMC and the election process is different from others,'' he noted.

This is the first major poll in the cooperative and marketing sector being contested jointly by alliance partners. The BJP-led government, after assuming power, had placed APMC under the administrator's rule to checkmate the NCP-Congress dominance. -NCP LEADER