West Bengal to modify agricultural marketing act

The West Bengal government is preparing a draft to amend the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act in line with a ‘Model Act’ of the central government, but it will not go after the centre’s advice on adopting contract farming. The state is not getting the grants to the tune of Rs 500 crore for not amending the act. The WB govt is interested in PPP model for development of ‘mandis‘ and ‘cold chains’ in the state, but it would not allow private players to set up ‘mandis’.