Melbourne, Jun 21 (PTI) A group of dairy store owners in New Zealand, including that of Indian descent, has presented a petition signed by around 34,000 people to Parliament on Wednesday, calling for action to curb the spike in incidents of crime and robbery.

A group of about 15 delegates representing dairy and small business owners presented a petition calling for a crackdown on “the crisis that the Government has been denying", reported the NZ Herald.

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The delegates are calling on the Government to take a harder stance on crime, with more police presence on the streets, legal penalties for parents of youth offenders, and stronger punishments for teenagers who were offending, it said.

The petition comes after an Auckland dairy worker, Janak Patel, 34 was stabbed to death last year during an alleged robbery at the Rose Cottage Superette.

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The father of Janak Patel was also among the petitioners.

Patel's death sparked a large outcry among small business owners and workers across the nation, many of whom have said they believe the Government must do more to combat crime.

The petition, launched after Patel's death, has gained at least 34,000 signatures, and another petition from the Chinese community has 5818.

There was a consensus among the citizens that something needed to be done, said organiser Sunny Kaushal.

“We are being burgled and robbed 18 times a day, we are getting ram raided every 10 hours,” he said.

“We need to put the rights of the law-abiding ahead of the rights of criminals to ensure people who go to work come home, unlike Janak Patel,” Kaushal added. PTI

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)