Traders observe bandh opposing FDI in retail

Opposing the Centre’s decision to allow 51 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, the traders in the state, responding to the call of Confederation of All India Traders, on Thursday observed a day long bandh.

The impact of the strike was visible in different cities where most of the shops and establishments downed their shutters affecting the trading activities. The traders associations demanded roll back of the government move.

Interestingly, none of the cities in the state figure in the list of 53 cities identified by the Centre for attracting foreign investment in retail as they do not qualify the enabling the term of having more than one million population as per the official census.

on Thursday’s stir was backed by different non-Congress political parties, trade unions and socio-cultural organisations.

The trade unions had asked business establishments across the state to stop all activities during the protest.

Earlier chief minister Naveen Patnaik, in a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had termed the Centre’s move as ill advised and regressive and requested the prime minister to roll back the move.