Chandigarh, August 24:
Concerned over the plight of petty vendors (rehri and farhi), Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered exemption of their user charges at the state’s fruits and vegetables retail markets for the remaining period of seven months of the current fiscal.
The Chief Minister took this decision after Mandi Board Chairman Lal Singh raised the issue at a meeting at the former’s official residence.
Responding to Lal Singh, Captain Amarinder decided to exempt the user charges of the retail markets from September 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022.
According to Lal Singh, this much-needed relief to the petty vendors of nearly 34 fruit and vegetable retail markets run by Market Committees (MCs) across the state would cost nearly Rs. 12 crores to the exchequer of the Punjab Mandi Board.
The Market Committees collect user charges through contractors, against the usage of the infrastructure of Mandis. A total of 27 MCs have allotted contracts for the collection of user charges through e-tendering, and the remaining committees personally collect such charges to provide various facilities to the rehri and farhi vendors.
