The call for a nationwide bandh to protest against Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail sector was a success in Gujarat on Thursday, claimed The Federation of Gujarat Traders’ Association.
The call for a nationwide bandh to protest against Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail sector was a success in Gujarat on Thursday, claimed The Federation of Gujarat Traders’ Association. It said that 70% shops and other establishments remained closed during the day. In Ahmedabad, from small grocery shops to giant shopping malls, all remained closed, to support the bandh call by Federation of All India Traders and Bharat Udyog Vyapar Sangathan.
As many as 10,000 shops in Ahmedabad were closed. It is estimated that state lost Rs350 crore of trade in a single day. According to Jayendra Tanna, president of the association, major shops in walled city engaged in trading of grocery, hardware, automobile, etc. were completely closed.
While, colleges in the Ahmedabad hardy saw any disruption, there was mix reaction from the schools to the Gujarat bandh. As there was no official instruction from the district education officer, many schools in eastern and western parts of Ahmedabad voluntarily chose to shut for the day. In eastern Ahmedabad, as schools opened, locals forced authorities to shut them.
Scene was similar in western Ahmedabad where locals forced authorities to close schools after noon time. According to estimates, industry suffered huge losses due to the day-long bandh. Apart from Ahmedabad, protests was organised in various other cities including, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Mehsana, Nadiad, Palanpur, Navsari and Junagadh.
"We estimate that a loss of Rs350 crore incurred due to the success of bandh in Gujarat," said Tanna and added that a majority of agro-product markets including Asia's largest APMC centre of Unjha also remained closed.
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