State-wide shop shutdown tomorrow

Shops across the State will down the shutters on October 3 in protest against the Centre's recent decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail and the anomalies in the implementation of the Food Safety Act of 2006. The strike is being jointly called by the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi and the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association (KHRA). Hotels and medical shops will remain closed.

Samithi president T. Nasseruddin said in a press conference here on Monday that FDI would result in monopolisation that could wipe away small retail shops.

"Even though the Chief Minister has said that the State would not allow FDI, it is to be seen how effective this promise will be. Our demand is to stop the implementation of FDI all over the country. Once 51 per cent FDI is allowed, the rest 49 per cent share of that particular company will be held by an Indian monopoly. This arrangement will allow them to start business in any State that they want to," Mr. Nasseruddin said.

The samithi, he said, is dissatisfied with the implementation of the Food Safety Act. He alleged that food safety officers had been harassing hotel and eatery owners even though the licensing and implementation date had been extended to February 2013.

"The duty of the food safety officers now is to create awareness among shop owners of the Act. But they are now resorting to unwanted raids and harassing the hoteliers. The committees to decide the food standards and fine amounts are yet to come into place. So such raids cannot be condoned," Mr. Nasseruddin said.

The KHRA said the Act itself had many clauses that were unfairly loaded against small-time shop owners.

"We are not against the Food Safety Act. But certain conditions laid down regarding packaging of foods could negatively affect the small hotels which cook traditional food items. This could lead to a kind of standardisation by which most of our traditional food will disappear, leading to the proliferation of packaged food items from multinationals," said M. Abdul Nazeer, Kozhikode district president of the KHRA.

Another issue raised by the Samithi is that of shop rents. The periodic increase in shop rents has affected the profits of the shop owners, about 90 per cent of whom in Kerala conduct business out of rented shops. The landlord-tenant Act needs to be reformed to stabilise shop rents, it said.