Pune shops open till 7pm, day 2: Traders meet mayor in effort to stop fines

PUNE For a second consecutive day, traders and shop owners in the city kept open shops till 7 pm on Thursday, despite warnings from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the police department

PUNE For a second consecutive day, traders and shop owners in the city kept open shops till 7 pm on Thursday, despite warnings from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the police department. Many shop owners faced action on Wednesday and were fined by PMC officials. The Federation of Trade Association of Pune (FTAP) is supporting the move by shop-keepers.

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An online meeting of the association was held and it was unanimously decided to make the protest more aggressive, till demands are fulfilled.

“We are not going to stop our protests and today, we decided to reach out to many as of our members who are scared due to PMC and police action. Our demands are very simple and for the benefit of public too, we just need our timings to be changed till 7pm,” said Fatechand Ranka, president, FTAP.

Association members and other unions met Pune city mayor Murlidhar Mohol on Thursday over the PMC action. “We met mayor Mohol and requested him to give instructions to PMC teams not to take any action. Accordingly, Mohol has instructed PMC officials and staff who were fining shop owners and traders,” added Ranka.

Meanwhile, policemen were taking rounds of market areas like Laxmi road, Kumthekar road and Tilak road after 4 pm and taking photos of shops which were open. Bhushan Mane a footwear shop owner on FC road said, “People start shopping after 4 pm and evening is our major time to do business. How can we close the shop? We are ready to pay the fines, but we cannot close the shop at 4pm anymore.”