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Hawkers’ movement gathers strength

— PHOTO: ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

COMPROMISE FORMULA: The new Spencer’s hyper outlet at Gariahat in Kolkata.

KOLKATA: A week after it was forced to defer its formal launch of a large format store here, Spencer’s, the retail arm of the RPG group, looks set to become a test case for the agitating hawkers committee which is now getting ready to give a major push to a national movement under its umbrella body, the ‘Vyapar Rozgar Bachao Andolan’ a forum which is described as a movement for retail democracy by its Delhi-based leaders.

The Spencer’s store covering 36,000 sq. ft. of retail space in Gariahat, an upmarket shopping-cum-residential hub in South Kolkata, has now been able to commence operations; but only as per some conditions set by the hawkers.

They had blocked the July 4 launch saying that the store will jeopardise the livelihood of 6,000 small pavement sellers and shopkeepers in the area. RPG group Vice-Chairman Sanjiv Goenka maintained that Spencer’s was an upmarket store whose range of merchandise did not compete with that of the small hawker. But the conditions remained.

Here are a few samples: garments below Rs. 300 cannot be sold. Vegetables will have to be mostly in packs of three kg. Fresh coriander leaves can be sold only in bunches of 500 gm, while ginger can be retailed from this store only in lots of 500 gm.

The city mayor, at whose behest the store was opened on July 7, is mediating between the All India National Hawkers Federation, whose local unit is spearheading the protest, and company officials.

A Spencer’s spokesperson said that these conditions were forcing customers to spend more during times of high inflation. “It is also leading to restrictive trade practices as we cannot impose conditions of minimum purchase of essential and perishable commodities on the consumer. We have now stopped stocking fruits and vegetables as these are not selling.”

The hawkers have also walked into the store and conducted what the company described as a hostile audit. Says Shaktiman Ghosh, the all India general secretary of the federation which has as its President Medha Patkar. “We had to conduct these audits at the billing points to check whether the conditions were being adhered to. “He hinted that now other stores in this area would also be targeted and then gradually the movement would be taken to other parts of the country where street hawkers and round-the-corner mom-and-pop stores were suffering due to the entry of big retail. “We have done it against Reliance in some States and now the movement will gather in strength”, he said.

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