Opening of Reliance outlets triggers protest in Kerala

The protests led to tension in the city as police barricaded the outlets preventing the entry of agitators.

Updated on: Dec 15, 2007, 20:03:35 IST

IANS | By HT Correspondent, Kozhikode

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Traders and activists of various political parties organized protests on Saturday against the opening of two retail outlets by the Reliance group in Kozhikode.

The protests led to tension in the city as police barricaded the outlets preventing the entry of agitators. The traders also organised shutdowns in two areas in the town where Reliance opened its stores.

The traders fear that the entry of large companies into the retailing sector will affect their prospects. On Friday also Kozhikode witnessed protests by the same organizations against the opening of a Hyper store by Spencer's, a retail venture of the Rs 135-billion RPG group.

Though local administrative bodies here sympathize with the agitators by refusing licenses to these retail outlets, this did not prevent the companies from going ahead with their plans.

According to rules, if a license is not issued within 30 days of application without any valid reason, the license will be deemed to have been issued.

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