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Confusion at retail veggie outlets
August 26, 2007
Noida: Most of the 40-odd fruit and vegetable retail outlets in Noida
and Ghaziabad have for three days now been opening and closing several
times a day and officials are at a loss to explain whether there is
an official diktat to down shutters or not.
In a kneejerk reaction, the Mayawati government had ordered the closure
of Reliance Fresh and Spencer's retail stores in the state on
August 23. Her statement at a press conference convened soon after
the cabinet had decided to close retail stores left a lot of questions
unanswered. Senior government officials added to the confusion by
avoiding a clear statement on the issue.
Noida additional district magistrate, Shiv Kant Dwivedi, seemed to
be clueless. "I really cannot say anything about these
stores. We do not have any orders from Lucknow. It seems they have
been opening and closing on their own," he said.
In Ghaziabad, district magistrate Ajay Shukla was equally obscure.
"Actually, there are no orders about these retail chain
stores. It is just that they sometimes need to shut to prevent any
law and order problems. You see, there have been demonstrations in
Varanasi and Lucknow."
But, another executive magistrate, unwilling to be named, said, "Actually,
there are no orders from Lucknow, just some hints. I think this will
get sorted out in a few days."
Ghaziabad has 12 Reliance Fresh, 13 Subhiksha and three Spencer stores.
Noida
has three Spencer, three Reliance Fresh and six Subhiksha outlets.
Greater Noida has two Reliance Fresh outlets.
The reports from the managers of almost all the stores are that police
officials have been asking them to down shutters. According to a source
in Greater Noida, the two Reliance Fresh stores were ordered to be
closed on Saturday morning but they reopened in the evening.
An official at one store said, "Most of the time we keep
only one of our shutters open. The regular customers still come to
us. But police officials say we should just sell our existing stocks
so that the fruits and vegetables do not rot."
At a Ghaziabad store, an official said: "We have kept
one shutter open only for our staff. They cannot be laid off."
Many consumers are quite angry. A housewife of Shastri Nagar in Ghaziabad,
Deepika Sinha, said, "This is a case of trying to pull
time back, from the hovercraft to the bullock cart. The only people
we see complaining are the rich middlemen, certainly not the farmer."
Right now, however, the consumer is "perplexed by the
doublespeak of the administration," as Indu Singhal of
Nehru Nagar said.
Addressing the media, the chief minister had said that Reliance Fresh
and Spencer stores were being closed because of complaints of a law
and order problem but a press note issued by the CM's information
campus later in the evening did not mention Spencer.
Asked if the closure applied to all retail stores selling fruits andvegetables
and included stores in shopping malls, a senior government official
later said 'yes'. Refusing to be quoted, he then took
refuge behind: "Even I am confused. Please go by what
the CM had said." Later the buck was passed on to the
district magistrates by a home department official who said "only
the DM can tell whether his orders are applicable only to Reliance
Fresh or to all the shopping malls.
SHUT, FOR NOW: Though Mayawati government had announced closure of
all vegetable retail outlets in Uttar Pradesh, the officials in Noida
and Ghaziabad are yet to receive any official communication to this
effect
Source: The Times Of India
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