After apprising police commissioner and FDA joint director, betel nuts traders of Nagpur knocked the doors of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. A delegation of The Nagpur Itwari Kirana Merchants Association met Fadnavis over the issue and submitted a memorandum seeking his intervention.
During the last one month, the FDA officials seized betel nuts worth several lakhs of rupees claiming it of poor quality and hazardous to health. Traders, however, claimed that the raids were conducted on the tip-off of some people with vested interest, who are troubling the traders to extort money.
Secretary of The Nagpur Itwari Kirana Merchants Association, Shiv Pratap Singh even alleged that on few occasions some anti-social elements pretending as FDA officials stopped the trucks loaded with betel nuts and extorted money from the drivers. They are also harassing traders for money. If this practice continues, traders will have to shift their business to other states.
Singh also claimed that the Chief Minister has taken serious cognizance of the issue and has directed the authorities concerned to look into the matter. According to Singh, Fadnavis also directed the authorities to take action against those involved in illegal raids.
Commissioner of Police, Dr Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay, Joint Commissioner of FDA, Shashikant Kekre, traders, Bharatlal Jain, Asif Kaliwala, Pradipkumar Panjwani, Harish Krushnani, Arvind Kotecha, Mohammed Salim, Siddique Bhai and Vinod Hemnani were present on the occasion.
