Guj fair price shop owners call off indefinite strike

Six days after the fair price shop owners in Gujarat launched an indefinite strike over their various demands, they called off the stir today following the state government's assurance to meet their demands at the earliest. The Gujarat Fair Price Shop Owners' Association ended the strike after state Food and Civil Supplies minister Jayesh Radadiya met the protesters and assured to fulfil their demands, including a hike in commission from food grain sales and a solution to technical glitches in the software controlling the state's Annapurna Yojana. The association, however, said it has given the state government time till April 1 to accept its list of demands, failing which they will surrender their licence en mass as protest. Around 25,000 ration shops in the state, including kerosene dealers, had gone on a strike from March 1 to press for their demands. The strike hit the poor people, as they could not get foor grain and other essential items. "The minister said that he supports our demands, but needs time to resolve the issues.

He will meet the chief minister and state finance minister over our demands. He sought time and urged us to end our strike," Prahlad Modi, president of the association, said. "We have decided to end the strike for now, but given an ultimatum to them that we will surrender our licence en masse on April 1 if the government fails to find a solution to our demands before the deadline," Modi, the younger brother of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said. Fair price shops had launched the strike from March 1 after the talks held with Radadiya on February 27 remained inconclusive. Shop owners claimed that commission paid to them in Gujarat is much lower in comparison to that given in some other BJP-ruled states, and want that the commission be brought at par with that offered in states like Rajasthan, Delhi, Maharashtra and Kerala. Around 3.82 crore people in the state are dependent on the fair price shops for their daily needs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)