Merchants dealing in vessels and pipes in the city came together under the newly-formed Madurai District Vessels and Household Goods Merchants Federation to stage a protest meeting here on Wednesday.
They condemned the “unfair practices” of an official in the Commercial Taxes Department. Addressing the gathering, Communist Party of India (Marxist) district secretary B. Vikraman said, “Household products are in demand among the general public everyday. Corrupt practices will not only affect the business, but also the common people.”
Madurai South MLA R. Annadurai promised to represent the grievance of the merchants to the higher authorities. “While we should seek to solve the issue in an amicable way, I urge all the members of the Federation to be united in this cause to wipe out unfair trade practices,” he said.
Condemning that the merchants were forced to bear the brunt of unfair practices, S.P Jeyapragasam of the Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Association said the grouse of traders must be redressed at the earliest since a lot of people in the business were affected.
The members also proposed to stage a two-day protest if no action was taken against the official.
