Kochi: With merchants coming out strongly against forced closure of shops, a mass movement is gathering momentum in Kerala against frequent hartals (strikes) that cripple normal life and cause a loss of Rs700 crore to the state's economy for every day's forced closure.

Several organisations and prominent personalities will gather in the first week of December to discuss the measures to counter such hartals, said Congress leader and former non resident Keralites affairs minister, M M Hassan. He said the Nehru Centre, headed by him, would take the initiative to hold the meeting, in which prominent legal experts, human rights activists, writers and citizens would participate.

''Kerala witnessed 123 hartals, including state-wide and regional ones, last year. Though the High Court had banned bandhs (closures), its new avatar hartal continues to cripple normal life. As per estimates, the state's economy suffers a loss of more than Rs700 crore per day due to a hartal. If one takes into account the losses in the unorganised sector, the amount will be manifold,'' he added.

Hassan recollected that he had staged a 24-hour fast in front of the Martyr's Column in 1996 and thereafter had never participated in any hartal, including those organised by his party. In line with the Kerala High Court verdict, the government should enact a legislation to recover the losses suffered by the common man during hartals from its organisers.

Similarly, the government should ban all demonstrations in front of the state Secretariat and provide an alternative place for staging such protest meetings, he added. Stating that non-resident Keralites were strongly opposed to frequent hartals, he said the government should take effective measures to prevent agitations that posed an impediment to the overall development of the state.

Pointing out that Kerala witnessed two state-wide hartals in a gap of eight days this month, he said political parties should make sure that a hartal was organised on the rarest of the rare occasion. Since certain political parties were strongly opposed to bringing even some restrictions on hartals, he took the initiative to build a mass movement against it, he said, adding that chief minister Oommen Chandy should convene a meeting of political parties to discuss the issue.

It may be recalled that Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopanasamithy president T. Nasurudin had announced that shops and business establishments henceforth would be kept open during hartals too, as they were politically motivated.