Resentment brews among traders in red zone districts of Punjab
Fearing extension of curfew, shopkeepers say they are losing patience amid deteriorating stocks
› Termites have eaten up the furniture at our outlets. Fungus has damaged the leather articles. We have asked the authorities to visit our shops just to see our plight.
NARESH SINGLA, chairman, Readymade Garments Markets Association, Punjab
PATIALA:A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave clearcut signals of extending the ongoing nationwide lockdown, resentment prevails among the traders running businesses in red zone districts in the state.
As per central guidelines, the state government has not allowed operation of commercial establishments dealing in non-essential items in these districts – Patiala, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.
The traders in red zone areas claim they are suffering huge financial losses not only in terms of income, but their stored goods worth crores of rupees are deteriorating due to the lockdown since March 22.
In Patiala, traders on Wednesday held protests in their respective commercial areas against the Centre and the state government for not providing any kind of relief to them.
Rakesh Gupta, president of Patiala District Beopar Mandal, said the traders had extended full cooperation to the authorities, but now the lockdown has started taking toll on their businesses as well as patience.
“Not only small traders, but big traders and multi-brand stores are facing losses of crores of rupees. The traders are left with no money as they have exhausted available funds for meeting their committed expenditures,” Gupta said.
Ludhiana-based Naresh Singla, Punjab chairman of Readymade Garments Markets Association, said the garments lying in their stores have been damaged in bug attack. “Termites have eaten up the furniture at their outlets. Fungus has damaged the leather articles. We have asked the authorities to visit our shops just to see our plight,” said Singla, who also owns a store in Patiala.
Singla said the government should allow the traders to open their shops on rotational basis.
Abhishek Garg, a cloth merchant in Patiala’s Sher-e-Punjab market, said, “We had stocked up summer articles worth ₹40 lakh before the announcement of lockdown, but all of it has gone waste due to covid-19 pandemic.”
He added, “Traders have no money to pay salaries to our salesmen, who make frequent rounds to our residences.”
Nikhil Bindra, who launched his clothing merchandise in Ludhiana two years ago, said he earned good profit last year, but is now reeling under heavy losses.
Meanwhile, Patiala deputy commissioner Kumar Amit said the administration understand the plights of traders is holding consultations with them.
“We are following the Centre’s directives while implementing restrictions in red zone areas. We have already put forward our demand before the state government to confine red zone status only to containment areas in the district so that commercial activity can be allowed in other areas,” the DC said.