Ujjain : The traders of Krishi Upaj Mandi under the banner of Grain Merchants Association called a strike by closing down the mandi, on Monday. The bandh was called by traders demanding release of their stock from Singh Cold Storage.
The strike affected the transactions as the traders had stopped the purchasing; however, the strike was maintained only for four hours. The traders had called the strike to press administration into releasing their stock which is stuck at the Singh Cold Storage, of Nagjhiri. The cold storage came into light after the owner Ravindra Bagga died of cardiac arrest and the stock was lifted by traders in loot like manner. However, the reason was right as it was revealed that the owner had taken a loan of Rs 4.5 crores from two different banks, making the stock as deposit. The traders of Krishi Upaj Mandi created a strike demanding the release stock of grain merchants who were not aware of the plans of Bagga and were not able to pull out their stocks in time. Soon police sealed the facility and restricted the entry.
The traders created a mandi bandh and demanded the civil and police administration to release the remaining 5 tucks of grain from the cold storage, which is going to be destroyed soon as the electricity supply of the facility has been removed. The traders also submitted a memorandum to SP Manohar Verma in favour of their demands. The traders said during the more than 38 trucks filled with various kinds of stock were pulled from the facility on the night when the owner died. The sources said it all was a makeup, eyewash. Police reached the spot after 35 trucks were loaded and made way from the spot? In fact the stock which was transported with immediate effect belonged to relative of a high profile politician.
The traders now demand police to release the remaining 5 trucks, which are owned by common traders. The stock of Dollar gram is going to rot if kept in the facility as it is not a cold storage any more. The traders will go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday if the administration do not complies with our demands. During these developments, Mandi Committee president Bahadur Singh Bormundla, vice-president Vikram Sing Patel, Grain Merchants Association president Nimesh Agrawal, Govind Khandelwal, CSPS Vijay Davar and Nitesh Bhargava were also present.
