Trade bodies seek Andhra Pradesh CM's intervention

Guntur: Various trade bodies have decided to lodge complaint against the Guntur district administration to chief minister.

Traders are upset with the district administration for not relaxing lockdown conditions even in non-containment zones. “There seems to be different set of rules for different districts.

The officials in Guntur district are taking unilateral decisions to continue stringent lockdown despite relaxation guidelines issued by the state government ,” said Malleswara Reddy, a merchant. He said the merchants who were facing severe losses due to the piled up stocks should be allowed to open shops at least in non-containment areas in Guntur city.

He asked why the officials wanted to keep the shops closed even after chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy wanted to open up the economy.

Chamber of Commerce president A Anjaneyulu objected to the way the officials were enforcing the lockdown in green zone areas. “There is no much relief despite we brought all the issues to the notice of the senior officials. We are planning to meet the chief minister to complain about the indifferent attitude of the district officials,” said Anjaneyulu.

Source said that police were not allowing the shops to open in the green mandals even during the day. The state government had allowed many businesses to be launched even in red zones but the pictutre is different in Guntur. Sources said the police turned down a request by a legislator from the city to allow the opening of meat shops in Two-Town where there were no containment areas.

In a letter to the state government, GR Srikanth, vice-president, retail super market Spencers, said their outlet in Chilakapuripet town, which is a green zone, was closed for 52 days due to the indifferent attitude of local authorities.

“We got oral permission from the joint collector to open the shop. But the local inspector is threatening us not to resume operations,” he alleged.

When contacted, Rural SP Ch Vijaya Rao said that they would allow the operations if the town was not in containment zone limits.