Pune trade assoc to keep shops open till 7pm from Aug 4; protest against state indecision on Aug 3

PUNE With the state government not immediately altering the restrictions on timings for shops in the city, the Federation of Trade Association of Pune (FTAP) has decided, from August 4, to keep open all shops in Pune open till 7 pm

PUNE With the state government not immediately altering the restrictions on timings for shops in the city, the Federation of Trade Association of Pune (FTAP) has decided, from August 4, to keep open all shops in Pune open till 7 pm.

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To protest against the state government’s indecision the association is going to hold a protest in the city on Tuesday, August 3.

“As the Covid cases in Pune city are under control for some time now, a change in shop timings can be done. Cases in the rural part of the Pune district should not be the reason for curbs in Pune city. Current timings are not suitable for shopping, so customers are also facing problems. We had a meeting with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and he assured us he would do the needful, but nothing happened till now. The time has come to show the unity and power of traders, so we will be holding a protest on Tuesday in the city and from August 4, we will keep open our shops till 7 pm. We are ready for any police action,” said Fatechand Ranka, president of the association, at a press conference on Sunday.

All shop ownersare going to participate in the agitation, dubbed the “Ghanta Naad Aaandolan”, on August 3, between 12 noon and 12.15 pm outside their shops. The demand of traders is that shops should be allowed to function from 11am to 8 pm for five days or between 11am and 7pm for all seven days of the week.

“In case the required changes in timings for keeping shops open are not considered by the concerned authorities then from August 4, the shop owners will keep their shops open till 7pm and be ready to face the consequences. All these decisions were taken unanimously at a meeting of office bearers of the federation held on July 31,” added Ranka.

While association vice-president Suryakant Pathak said, “Shops and many business establishments have remained closed for a very long in the last 16-18 months, especially during the festival seasons, due to which there have losses to the tune of Rs75,000 crore. Shop owners, traders and their employees are suffering due to the financial losses, so now we should be allowed to function as per the timings demanded by association”