Farmers Movement Archive

Traders heave a sigh of relief, but business-as-usual may take time

New Delhi: The local businessmen and factory owners are shaking off the lethargy of having sat fairly idle for a year with the news that the protesting farmers are finally vacating the area. The barricading of the border at Tikri and the occupation of kilometres of the Rohtak Road allowed neither workers nor the customers to easily reach the factories or the shops. That is why there is a collective sigh of relief among the business fraternity. “My GST filing was nil for the past two years because there have been no sales,” claimed Vijay Singhal, who runs an electrical shop. “First, Covid hit my business and then the farmers came here to protest. I am the sole distributor for electrical products of two major companies, but they both took back the dealership because I couldn’t meet the sales goal. At least, the long struggle of the farmers resulted in the repeal of the three laws. But what about us? Who will assist us in bearing our losses?” Another shopkeeper added that most of the factories in the industrial areas had shut down due to the prolonged farm protest and workers had moved away, affecting the sales of local shops. “It is only people like us with our own shops and storehouses who survived the crisis,” he said. “Malls, shops and car showrooms also closed down during the protest. I live in Nangloi and reached my shop after parking a kilometre away. Why would a customer take so much pain to reach us?” A shoe shop owner at Babar Haridas Nagar pointed at the unremoved concrete bollards put up by police to restrict traffic movement from Delhi to Haryana and said, “The cops opened up a part of the border road for two wheelers and emergency vehicles, but commuting is still a problem at the moment.” Traders felt it would take at least six months for business to revive. “Sales of the local shopkeepers depended on people working in the nearby factories or living in our vicinity,” said Ram Niwas. “Now that most of the factories have halted operations, our earnings have reduced by almost 50%. And reopening these factories is definitely going to take a lot of time.”

The Times of India

2021-12-11

Delhi