Kolkata, Dec 29 (IANS): The All India Fair Price Shop Owners’ Association (AIFPSOA), an umbrella body of different ration shop owners, on Friday called for an indefinite strike throughout the country from January 2.

The association has already started staging a sit-in-agitation in Kolkata from Friday in support of its indefinite strike call from next Tuesday. The association members will also organise a convention to press their demand at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on January 15.

AIFPSOA General Secretary Bishwambhar Basu told mediapersons on Friday that a total of 5,38,000 fair price shop owners will be participating in the indefinite nationwide strike from next Tuesday.

“Our principal demand is advance commission. This has been a long-standing demand. Going for an indefinite strike was not an overnight decision. But our appeals have been repeatedly turned down, so finally we have decided to go for the strike,” Basu said.

He also claimed that the fair price shop owners have to spend money from their pockets to keep the show running.

“This cannot continue for an indefinite period. We have approached both the Union and state government with our legitimate demands. However, we did not receive any positive response from anyone,” he added.

Basu also claimed that the fair price shop owners in West Bengal are subjected to mental torture in the name of the public distribution system (PDS) controller.

“The fair price shop owners are being made scapegoats just to hide the corruption in the ration distribution system in the state,” Basu claimed.