Grocery shops, hotels on 3-day strike from today

BHOPAL: Provision stores, hotels and restaurants across the state would remain closed for three days from Monday. The strike call has been given by the Confederation of All India Traders and Hotels and Restaurants Association in protest against the new Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act. Malls and supermarkets in the state capital, Indore and other cities of the state witnessed heavy rush and panic buying. Citizens fearing disruption of normal supplies queued up stock supplies. Supply of packaged Sanchi milk would however remain unaffected.About 55 large and small restaurants in the state capital are likely to remain shut. The protestors are against the provisions of the new act which lays down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.Speaking at a press conference, Confederation of All India Traders, national president Radhyay Shyam Maheshwari said “The FSS act rules have been made to favour the multinational corporations and will worsen the conditions of the over 8 crore people involved in the industry across the country.”The traders would stage demonstrations in front of Walmart wholesale retail outlet, at Karond on Monday. Under the new act licenses would be issued from the Food and Drug Administration rather than civic bodies which issued them earlier.