Traders protest against Reliance store in Jammu

Traders protest against Reliance store in Jammu

Jammu: Scores of traders on Sunday staged a protest against opening of a Reliance retail store here and threatened to intensify their agitation to “safeguard” small businesses.
The protesters led by president of Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI) Jammu Arun Gupta and president of Traders Federation Ware House Nehru Market Deepak Gupta assembled outside the Reliance store near Jewel chowk in the heart of the city and held a peaceful dharna, officials said.
They said policemen were deployed in strength to maintain law and order.
“We are holding this protest to express our anguish over the opening of Reliance retail store which will ruin the small shopkeepers and force them to close down as they cannot compete with these big companies,” Deepak Gupta said.
He said they have been continuously appealing to the administration to take steps to save the small traders of Jammu but “no plea is being heard”.
“Now the government has given permission to Reliance Smart Bazaar store in Jammu. This store will sell everything from groceries to medicines and electronics to liquor. Who will go to the small shopkeepers running their shops in the streets?,” he asked.
Gupta threatened to intensify their agitation by pouring on the roads, holding dharnas and going for a hunger strike if the administration did not revoke its permission to the Reliance retail store.
PTI

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