Self-help groups put on notice

HYDERABAD: As many as 196 stalls of self-helpgroups at rythu bazars have been served third warning notices to either shut shop or renew their licences.The groups have not renewed their licences, which they ought to every year, for the past 10 years.The stalls in the nine rythu bazars of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts were issued notices on Tuesday and given a week’s time to respond. “They have violated the rules and the government will take legal action against owners of these stalls and the stalls will be sealed,” said PS Pradyumna, chief executive officer (CEO) of rythu bazars.He further said, “In the first phase, we have planned to take action against owners of 196 shops because they hired the stalls and rented them out to others.” The erring groups have been given notices twice earlier but they haven’t responded to the same.In the second phase, notices will be served on 200 stalls next month .“The idea is to eliminate middlemen,” the CEO explained. The candid CEO also said he had been getting phone calls from politicians to persuade him not to serve notices on some groups. “But I am going to serve notices on all those who have violated the rules,” he asserted. When contacted, owners of the stalls couldn’t give a reason for not renewing their licences.But a few said they would rather exit the rythu bazars if the situation demands.In both Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad district rythu bazars, a majority of the stalls are run by middlemen in violation of norms which stipulate that 75 per cent of the space should be allotted to farmers and 25 per cent to self-help groups.“The situation is exactly opposite with middlemen holding 75 per cent of the space in all the nine rythu bazars,” admitted Mehdipatnam Rythu Bazar estate officer Alexander Manikyam.