Retailers object to proposal mandating licence for selling tobacco products
PRAYAGRAJ : Paan Samagri Vikreta Sangh, representing more than 15,000 traders, small retailers and betel sellers selling tobacco products in Prayagraj, has raised strong objections to the draft proposal issued by the state urban development department on June 8 this year mandating separate licences for retailers selling tobacco products like paan, bidi and cigarette etc.
If licence requirement for selling tobacco products is made mandatory in Prayagraj, it will drive the families of small and micro-retailers to starvation as it will severely impact their livelihoods, the association has claimed.
“The Sangh also believes that such measures will cause massive harassment to the poor and mostly uneducated micro-retailers at the hands of enforcement officials and will bring back the licence raj. It will lead to a sharp increase in their cost of doing business at a time when retailers are already in a desperate situation due to a massive loss in business on account of Covid. These petty retailers sustain by selling goods of daily needs like biscuits, soft drinks, mineral water, cigarettes, bidi, paan, etc,” said Sandeep Jaiswal, president, Pan Samagri Vikreta Sangh, Prayagraj.
He said pre-lockdown earnings of these micro retailers were about Rs 4,000-8000 per month which was barely adequate to feed two square meals a day to their families. “Their earnings have already been impacted due to pandemic and the proposed law will further erode 60-70% of their earnings and it will be big blow to the petty retailers,” he claimed.
The Sangh has also sent an appeal and strong objection to mayor Abhilasha Gupta and municipal commissioner Ravi Ranjan to withdraw this proposal as it will, the body claims, impact over 15,000 micro-retailers and their families in the city.
“In Prayagraj, like elsewhere in the country, tobacco retailing business has traditionally been in the hands of 15,000 small shopkeepers who represent the unorganised sector and operate from small shops. These retailers have suffered immensely due to lockdown and are struggling for survival,” Jaiswal said.
“In such depressing times, we are appalled to see that UP urban development department and municipal corporation of Prayagraj have come up with a draft proposal that will deal a blow to marginal retailers by compounding their miseries. This is the time to provide relief to them and we request municipal corporation not to implement this draft proposal and instead come up with policies that support the creation of livelihood opportunities for our members,” he added.