UP grain traders defer bandh

The Uttar Pradesh government has sought to make peace with foodgrain wholesale traders, who had announced proceeding on a 12-day state-wide 'bandh' from May 25 against the imposition of stock limits and enforcement of Section 3/7 of the Essential Commodities Act recently.

State Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ram Prasad Chaudhary met a delegation of traders last evening in Lucknow and tried to address their grievances.

The minister asked them to look into the matter and organised a meeting between the traders and food department officials on May 26 to resolve the deadlock. Consequently, the 'bandh' call has been deferred until May 26 and the course of action by traders will depend on the outcome of the meeting.

The delegation of traders, led by UP Udyog Vyapar Pratinidhi Mandal Treasurer Laxmi Narain Agarwal, also submitted a seven-point charter of demands, including raising the stock limit, revoking Section 3/7 and extending the period to clear stocks.

"We are happy that the state government has showed concern for us and we remain positive about the May 26 meeting," Mandal Office-Bearer Chandra Kumar Chhabra told Business Standard.

Issuing the banch call on May 19, Mandal president and Rajya Sabha MP Banwari Lal Kanchal had alleged that the retailers, wholesalers and commission agents would incur heavy losses, if the stock limit was not raised immediately.

"The stock limit order, coming at a time when there has been a record production of wheat this year with the warehousing facilities in the state coming under strain, makes little sense...this will only put the farmers at a disadvantage and lead to harassment of traders," he said.

The bandh call was being supported by over 400 traders from 55 districts in the state.

The traders demand that the stock limit for retail traders be raised from 10 quintals to 50 quintals in respect of edible oils, while for wholesalers the stock limit should be hiked from 150 quintals to 500 quintals for rice, from 500 to 1,000 quintals for pulses and from 250 to 500 quintals for edible oils.

Kanchal, who has been at the forefront of the anti-organised retail protests in the state, claimed that there was no scarcity of food grains in the state, which should warrant promulgation of the stock limit order.