Jat quota stir: Ambala's wholesale cloth market suffers huge loss

Around 80% of the customers avoided going to Ambala as most of the highways and other roads remained blocked

The biggest wholesale cloth market of Haryana at Ambala City has suffered a huge loss due to the Jat agitation in the state.

There are around 900 wholesale cloth shops besides several retail outlets in Ambala City where daily large number of customers from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Punjab and Uttar Pradesh come, President of Haryana Cloth Traders Association Dinesh Grover told reporters today.

"The market has suffered a huge loss due the agitation, which could be around Rs 100 crore. After the Jat agitation intensified in most parts of Haryana, 80% of the customers avoided coming to Ambala as most of the highways and other roads remained blocked," he said.

He said the cloth mills at Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jaipur, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Surat are the main supplier of cloth to this market.

"Most of the cloth material reaches us through road transport and due to the blockade on highways, no supply could be delivered in Ambala," he said.

The science equipment market of Ambala Cantonment has also suffered a big loss. The area is one of the biggest markets of science equipment in the country.

Besides, the equipment is also exported, especially to the Gulf countries, a trader said, adding they had suffered losses in the wake of the Jat agitation.