By IANS
Kolkata : The Centre for Indian Trade Union, the labour union affiliated to the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), is in favour of granting licence to organised retail trade by big Indian companies but would not allow foreign players in West Bengal.
CITU's West Bengal unit president Shyamal Chakraborty Saturday said the union would place a proposal before the state government on the issue even as Left Front partners like Forward Bloc are blocking entry of companies like Reliance Industries in retail sector.
With big corporate entities entering the organised retail trade, it would be difficult for the small retailers to carry on business unless they were given protection, Chakraborty said.
"Nearly 160 million people are dependent on small retail trade," he said.
The retail sector had emerged as the second highest employment generator in the country after agriculture, the union leader added.
Opposing the entry of foreign players in the organised retail trade, Chakraborty criticised the tie-up between India's telecom major Bharti and global retail giant Wal-Mart.
"It was a kind of backdoor entry of a foreign player in India," he said.
He said the state government should modify the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act to add more teeth for preventing entry of foreign players in the market.
CITU also wants the central government to devise regulatory measures to control retail operations and to initiate a round of discussions with the different trade unions on this issue before any decisions are made on foreign investment.
"We cannot prevent their entry by lawful means. So we want the central government to at least issue regulatory guidelines," said Chakrabarty.
The organisation will also send a detailed report to the union government on this.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been batting for the big businesses' entry into the retail sector.
He had said everybody should welcome this as large quantities of fruits and vegetables perish every year because of lack of storage facilities. The entry of big business houses will stem the rot.