Traders pledge to eliminate hartals

Kozhikode: The Kerala Vyapari Vyav-asayi Ekopana Samithy (KVVES) is determined to rewrite the history of hartals in state. It has called a meeting of 32 organisations here to float a common platform, the Kerala Entrepreneurs Forum, against hartals.

The fury of traders reached a breaking point during the spate of recent hartals called by right wing organisations in the Sabarimala issue.  

KVVES state president T. Naseeruddeen told DC the traders would stand united to defeat moves by politicians who announce hartals for no reason. “The pro-Left traders’ forum, various chambers of commerce and industry and even trade unions are united against hartals,” he said.

 “All of us will open shops entirely and will be united in support if somebody attacks a trader for opening his shop”, he said, adding that all legal measures will be sought to make the party leaders pay compensation for the losses incurred by hartal supporters.

Mr Naseeruddeen also said that as advised by legal experts CCTV cameras are being installed in all shops and trade points to identify the culprits during attacks on shops on hartal days.

According to traders Kozhikode had to shut down on 23 days this year due to hartals,  which is almost a month.

The traders of Kozhikode had lost almost two months due to Nipah virus attack in May and due to floods in June.  According to a survey conducted by KVVES thousands of traders are debit ridden due to hostile trade climate this year.