Farmers Movement Archive

Delhi: Supply lines cut, capital crisis brews

NEW DELHI: With the Delhi-Haryana borders at Singhu and Tikri and with Uttar Pradesh at Ghazipur almost closed, the farmers’ protest is turning the capital into an island each passing day. Supply of essential items like fruits, vegetables, milk and fuel are getting affected and the situation is likely to worsen if the stalemate continues. Azadpur Mandi, Delhi’s largest wholesale market for fruits and vegetables, has seen a nearly 60% dip in arrivals since Friday. “Usually, around 12,500 tonnes of fruits and vegetables arrive at Azadpur every day, but the number of trucks arriving at the mandi has gone down from more than 2,500 a day to 1,000 now,” said Adil Ahmad Khan, chairman, Azadpur Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC). Khan said that while the capital is not facing a shortage at the moment, with other border crossings also affected by the protest, the prices of fruits and kitchen staples like potato are showing signs of rising. Khan said that not only had arrivals been affected, but trucks from the mandi had also been unable to leave Delhi. Availability of milk is not yet a problem. “Milk supplies reach Delhi from different states, and although supplies from Haryana has been affected due to the problem at two, three border points, the rest of the border crossings are still open,” said an official of a large milk supplier. “If supply is restricted at some plants, there are other supporting plants.” Delhi-NCR Petrol Dealers’ Association president Ajay Bansal said that fuel supplies coming from depots in Rohtak were getting delayed due to the protests and vehicles were taking a longer route. “There is a small problem in getting fuel because the carriers are taking longer to reach the filling stations. However, we are managing and the 390 petrol pumps in the city are fully stocked,” Bansal said. Naveen Kumar Gupta, secretary general, All India Motor Transport Congress, however, claimed that movement of goods through trucks to and from Delhi had been badly hampered and the supply chain would be majorly disrupted if the protests continued. “It appears the farmers have decided on a long battle until the government talks and pacifies them,” he said. The restricted movement of traffic due to the border problems has impacted trade and business in Delhi, which is north India’s biggest distribution point for commercial goods. “Business in Delhi has seen a loss of around Rs 200 crore in the last five days,” estimated Brijesh Goyal, chairman, Chamber of Trade and Industry. “The transport business has taken the biggest hit. There has been no loading or unloading of goods in these five days and raw materials from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir have come to a halt.” Sanjay Bhargava, president of Chandni Chowk’s Sarv Vyapar Mandal, said, “The footfall in markets and wholesale markets, which cater to a large number of bulk buyers from the neighbouring states, have dipped and businesses are closing by 5pm. Retail sales have also declined in the last four days.”

The Times of India

2020-12-01

Delhi