By IANS,
Shimla : More than 6,000 shopkeepers in the Himachal Pradesh capital Wednesday kept their shops closed to express solidarity with fasting social activist Anna Hazare.
“We have decided to keep the shops closed for one full day to support the cause of Anna,” Shimla Beopar Mandal president Ramesh Sood told IANS.
He said shops dealing with daily necessary items like medicines and eatables would be exempted from the shutdown.
The move is not associated with any political front, he added.
People continue to express solidarity with Hazare’s movement and hold candlelight processions in Shimla, Solan, Una, Kangra, Dharamsala, Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Chamba towns.
A fast by 67-year-old Laxmi Chand Thakur beneath the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the Ridge in Shimla and former engineer of state Public Works Department Desh Raj Sharma in Mandi town continued for the ninth day Wednesday just like Anna who is on a hunger strike in Delhi to demand a strong anti-corruption bill.
Sharma was admitted to a hospital Aug 22 but refused to accept food. He has been administered glucose.