Not all traders on bandhwagon today

Even as the city unit of BJP has given a call for bandh as part of a nationwide protest, traders are split over the decision to down shutters. Markets will be shut in most sectors, but several traders in Sector 17 have decided it would be business as usual.

Markets in most sectors will be shut from 10 am to 2 pm. BJP leaders and workers will gather in Sector 26 and then move from sector to sector, appealing to people to shut their shops to protest the government's decisions to allow FDI in retail and raise the price of diesel, and the coal blocks allotment scandal.

BJP city unit chief Sanjay Tandon said the party had appealed to traders to keep shops closed for half a day. "The decisions taken by the Congress government are against common people. FDI in retail will wipe out small traders. The hike in prices of diesel and cap on LPG subsidy will affect the household budget. Even UPA allies are turning against them," said Tandon.

Several rounds of meetings have been held with shopkeepers. The Chandigarh Beopar Mandal has said 90 per cent of shops in all sectors, and at least 50 per cent in Sector 17, would remain shut.

J P S Kalra, general secretary of the Sector 17 Traders' Association, said traders in the sector were in favour of FDI. The association held a meeting with police officials demanding that protection be given to them to prevent any untoward incident tomorrow, in case they were forced to close their shops.

Workers of the Communist Party of India (CPI) will be supporting the call for bandh, and will hold an agitation in Sector 22.

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