Arhtiyas give 2-day ultimatum to mandi board

Ludhiana: As the deadline of ending the parking contract given to the mandi board by city’s Arhtiya body exhausted on Thursday, the latter called an emergency meeting to address the issue.

The fruit and vegetable vendors condemned the mandi board and administration for not fulfilling their promise of cancelling the parking contract.

Ludhiana Fruit Mandi Arhti Association president Kamal Gumber said, “It is unfortunate that the mandi board officials are acting in such a manner and taking us for ride by making false promises. During our recent meeting with the board, the officials accepted that the parking contract of our market is illegal and it will be cancelled before Thursday. But even after repeated assurances by the officials and administration, the contract has still not been cancelled yet.”

Gumber added, “The parking mafia is having a free run in our market and besides charging illegal parking fees, the contractor’s men often engage in brawls. The situation has gone from bad to worse now and they have even started attacking our members who stand up against them. On Monday, one of our member was attacked with sharp-edged weapons when he questioned them on collecting parking fees illegally. We are fed up with the attitude of the mandi board officials who are ignoring this matter.”

Karan Deep, a member of the association, said, “We had given the mandi board time till Thursday to do away with the parking contract at our market, but nothing was done. After discussions with our core committee and members, we have decided to give a final ultimatum of two more days time to the board and administration to cancel the parking contract, failing which we will go on an indefinite strike and will not be responsible any kind of shortage of fruits and other commodities in the city.”