There was no question of revoking the circular, Vora told reporters here on Monday, adding the only point of agreement in July 28 meeting with the agents was with regard to a short postponement of its implementation.

Dubbing the strike as ``uncalled for and unjust'', Vora said the traders must obey the High Court order that the market charges on vegetables be recovered from them and not farmers bringing the commodity for sale to markets.

He said the rule would apply to all the 172 agriculture produce marketing committees without exception and if the agents had any objections, they were free to procure legal opinion and pursue the matter in the court.

The government, however, has made arrangements to maintain the supply of vegetables and fruits in all major towns and cities.

According to him, at the July 28 meeting with traders' representatives and office-bearers of the market committees, the traders had assured the government to defer the agitation. ``It is deplorable that the vegetable traders have gone back on their promise, causing a great deal of hardship to consumers throughout the State. But, the government is determined to deal with the situation'', he said.

To maintain smooth supply of vegetables, he said, the Government had identified purchase centres in major towns and cities, including Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar, and appealed to vegetable growers not to export their produce outside the State during the strike.

To a query, Vora said that in Ahmedabad, 16 centres, including Paldi, Vasna, Jamalpur, Kalupur, Manek Chowk and Madhupura, were identified to enable consumers to purchase vegetables and fruits. He also appealed to market committees' purchase-sale associations, consumer co-operative societies and voluntary organisations to ensure supply of the vegetables in different parts of the State.

The Minister did not agree when pointed out that the prices were shot up on the first day of the strike. ``On the contrary, the prices have considerably gone down'', he claimed. He, however, admitted that only 300 quintals of vegetables were received by purchase centres in Ahmedabad as against a daily average of 10,000 quintals.