Fair price shop dealers to go on strike from Aug 1

HYDERABAD: Fair price shop (FPS) dealers across the state will go on an indefinite strike from August 1 due to non-payment of entitled commissions to them by the state government. The FPS dealers say the government has not paid the commissions due to them from 2013 onwards. The dealers have put forward a set of demands, which they hope the state government will consider.

There are about 17,152 dealers in the state and the government owes each of them Rs 4 lakh as per the Food Security Act, says members of the Hyderabad Ration Dealers Welfare Association (HRDWA). 
“It's become impossible to sustain this business and we are struggling to even keep the shops open. The operational cost of a fair price shop in the city would be Rs 15,000-17,000 a month,” said B Prasad Goud, general secretary, HRDWA. 

Apart from delayed payments, the association hopes dealers would get a fixed salary of `30,000 per month. They have also requested the government to set up electronic weighing machines in godowns at mandal level. Their other demands are allowing FPS dealers to sell consumer goods and giving city-based FPS dealers a special status.