The Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) on Sunday warned of an unprecedented crisis for Delhi’s business community due to the INDIA bloc’s mega rally at Ramlila Maidan, claiming that around 2.5 lakh shops within a five-kilometre radius of the venue are likely to remain closed, while nearly 80 per cent of business activity could come to a standstill.
CTI has written a fourth letter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the potential impact of the rally on the national capital’s trading community. The traders’ body said the rally could also disrupt transportation and movement of goods across a 10-kilometre radius, affecting markets in Central Delhi and Old Delhi during the crucial pre-Diwali shopping season.
Welcoming Gandhi’s video appeal asking people attending the rally to visit Delhi’s markets and shop to support traders, CTI said the ground situation was entirely different, with widespread panic and uncertainty among shopkeepers and customers.
“We are traders, not BJP agents. They are traders of Delhi, and their business is trade, not politics. We are neither in favour of nor against any political party.
These 100 major market associations are not agents of any political party.
We were only appealing to protect our livelihoods during the peak Diwali season,” he said.
CTI Chairman Brijesh Goyal said that although Gandhi had urged rally participants to support local businesses, the prevailing situation had created such panic that around 2.5 lakh of the approximately three lakh shops in markets within a five-kilometre radius of Ramlila Maidan were expected to remain closed. Rejecting allegations that traders were acting as agents of the BJP, Goyal said around 100 major market associations had appealed for the rally to be postponed, not for political reasons but to protect their livelihoods during the peak festive season. Highlighting transportation concerns, Goyal said goods movement within a 10-kilometre radius of the rally venue was also expected to be severely disrupted, with loading and unloading operations likely to remain suspended.
