A dawn-to-dusk shutters-down strike by traders under the aegis of the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi on Wednesday brought normal business to a halt in Kochi.
Shops and business establishments remained closed across the city as even some of the hoteliers joined the protest action. Only those establishments with lodging remained opened on the strike day, said the district president of the samithi P.A.M. Ibrahim. He called the strike a “total success” with about 45,000 traders, most of them small businesses, taking part in it. The traders are protesting against what they alleged was “harassment” by government officials, especially those from the Sales Tax department. Mr. Ibrahim claimed that sales tax officials were “raiding” and conducting shop-to-shop inspections even in small shops which were out of the purview of sales tax registration.
The traders are also bristling at what they claimed was delay in movement of goods carriers across check posts and a recent directive from State government that even small provision stores should secure registration under the Essential Commodities Act, Mr. Ibrahim said.
Thousands of traders also participated in a protest march organised in Kakkanad. The traders gathered at the NGO Quarters about 10 a.m. before converging before the district collectorate. The protest meeting that followed was inaugurated by A.N. Radhakrishnan, State general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
