Traders body asks Delhi govt for financial aid for lockdown-hit retailers

The Confederation of All India Traders, on Tuesday, in a letter sent to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, asked for a financial relief package for the city’s retail shop owners.
 

CAIT claimed that till March this year, retailers had recovered 60-70% of their business, before the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic hit and forced several states and union territories including Delhi to implement strict lockdown measures. The traders’ association added that because of the lockdown, which started on April 20 and is only now being eased, retailers have borne heavy losses and need financial help to tide over the crisis. 
 

Despite the shops and markets remaining closed during the lockdown in 2020, the traders not only paid salaries to their employees but also helped them in every manner to overcome the miseries of the Covid pandemic.” read the letter. 
 

“Besides, the traders bore various other establishment and overhead expenses on their own without having support from any quarter. It is a pity that neither the Central Government nor the State Government had awarded any relief package to the traders, whereas several types of packages were given to all other sectors of trade and economy of the country,” CAIT added in its letter. 
 

CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal has claimed that due to the lockdown's impact on business, retailers lack the wherewithal to pay their staff salaries or make rental/EMI payments for their houses, shops and vehicles. Khandelwal also asked the Delhi CM to waive the minimum electricity bills for retail shops.
 

“Such a package is certainly not an income for the traders but will be spent on meeting the expenses pertaining to about 40 lakh employees of the traders and should be construed as a helping hand for providing salaries to the employees and meeting other various establishment and overhead expenses,” the letter read. 
 

The Delhi government, from Monday, has allowed a partial reopening of shops, malls and market complexes on an odd-even basis i.e. shops can open on alternate days depending on their shop number. The timings for opening will be 10 am to 8 pm. Private offices have also been allowed to reopen with 50% capacity, while Delhi Metro will also resume operations with reduced capacity in each train.