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Traders launch fresh attack on Reliance unit

BHUBANESWAR: The Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL) attempts to go ahead with the opening of ‘Reliance Fresh’ outlets ignoring “threat of violence” from small traders in the capital city suffered a setback when one of its stores was damaged on Tuesday.

It was a day full of hide-and-seek game between company officials and traders. Encouraged by the success of surprise opening of its outlet at Kalpana Square on Sunday, the company came out to launch another store at Gopabandhu Square on Tuesday.

As attention of the entire Reliance Retail operation officials got diverted, traders, who came in a truck, smashed the signboard and attacked two company employees at the Kalpana Square outlet. The enraged vendors, however, could not enter the store. On being informed, the city police rushed to the spot to save the store.

Subsequently, unperturbed by the violence, the company officials reopened the store even as a posse of lathi-wielding police personnel were looking for disturbing elements in proximity. The company officials later lodged a complaint with the city police in connection with the damage caused to one of its stores.

In the morning, hundreds of vendors under the banner of the Bhubaneswar Uttha Dokan Byabasayee Sangh (BUDBS) took out a rally protesting against the retail operation of RIL in the State.

They submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who assured the delegation to examine the contentious issues raised by them.

“The State government should ban retail business by multinational companies. Lakhs of small-time traders will lose their livelihood if companies entered retail operation,” BUDBS president Sura Jena said here.

The municipal corporation should rather put its eviction drive on hold and make vending zones permanent, he said.

In the evening, some 250 traders approached the city police requesting them to refrain RIL from opening its stores.

The police refused to intervene in the matter saying it was not the competent authority that decided on giving licence for the shop, Deputy Superintendent of Police Sarat Sahu said. Interestingly, the company opened the two outlets during evening time. RIL planned to open 18 such outlets in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Though it decided not to sell fruits and vegetables at its Kalpana Square outlet till a consensus emerged, vendors were in no mood to allow their entry into the retail market.

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