Confederation of All India Traders has written a Letter to Shri Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi and draw his attention to attention towards the precarious and vulnerable condition of the traders of Delhi arising out of the current coronavirus pandemic under which shops and markets in Delhi have to remain closed for about more than 50 days. Full Text of the letter is as follows:-
Confederation of All India Traders
(An Apex Body of Trade Federation Association & Non-Corporate Sector of India)
“Vyapar Bhawan”
925/1, Naiwala, Karol Bagh, New Delhi-110005.
Phone: C91-11-45032664, Telefax: +91-11-45032665
E-mail: teamcait@gamil.com Website : www.cait.in
Ref. No.: 3232/1/S0
Shri Arvind Kejriwal
Hon’ble Chief Minister Government of NCT of Delhi
Delhi
08th June, 2021
Dear Shri Kejriwal Ji,
Sub : Need for a Financial Package for Delhi Traders and recalling back of Electricity Bills
We wish to draw your kind and immediate attention towards the precarious and vulnerable condition of the traders of Delhi arising out of the current coronavirus pandemic under which shops and markets in Delhi have to remain closed for about more than 50 days. Now, that the markets are open in Delhi, the traders are facing a big financial crisis and on the other hand to make the situation more worse, the Electricity providers have sent highly inflated bills to commercial and industrial establishments for the period of lockdown when these establishments were completely closed and making the life of traders more miserable. Under the circumstances, we urged you to look into the matter urgently and grant a financial package for the traders of Delhi and direct the Electricity providers to take back the electricity bills issued to commercial and industrial establishments for the lockdown period.
We would like to mention that at a time when the traders were already facing various difficulties because of closure of shops and markets in the previous lockdown in last years, the sudden onslaught of the second wave of covid has wrecked the backbone of the traders. It is a matter of record that despite the shops and markets remaining closed during the covid lockdown in 2020, the traders not only paid salaries to their employees but also helped them in every possible manner to overcome the miseries of covid pandemic. Besides, the traders also borne 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. It is to be noted that while meeting all these expenses, the deposits of the traders were exhausted.
It is noteworthy to mention that despite facing all odds, the traders in Delhi did everything within their might and somehow were able to recover their business to 60 to 70% till March, 2021. Suddenly, Delhi was badly hit by the second wave of corona which led announcement of one another spell of lockdown in Delhi which continued for almost 50 days and the miserable situation is that when now the markets are open the traders do not have any more deposits with them nor they have any other source of income to meet the expenses of salaries to the employees, various bills to be paid, EMIs of Home, Shops and Vehicles, rent of the shops, payments of loans and interests and various other establishment and overhead expenses beside maintaining their own families. A situation of utter financial crisis has arisen for the traders of Delhi. Over and above that, the traders even do not have any capital to run the businesses. The prevalent credit period in the markets, which is a part of the business dealings, has gone too long as there is inter-dependency of funds between the suppliers and receivers particularly at a time when every trader is sailing in the same boat. Further, we also request that the Electricity providing Companies in Delhi should be directed to take back the electricity bills generated for the period of lockdown. Beside the inflated bills even the minimum charges on electricity bills should be waived off.
Therefore, we request your good self to look into the gravity of the matter immediately and grant a financial relief package to the traders of Delhi. Such a package is certainly not an income for the traders but the largely 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 traders of Delhi are also the responsibility of the Delhi Government and we feel that the Delhi Government must come forward to help the traders in this time of crisis and set an example to other States of the Country to follow. It is noted that the Delhi government has given relief to other sections and on the same lines relief should be given to the traders of Delhi since they are the honorary tax collectors for the Government.
We are sure that it will receive your kind attention and you will be pleased to take necessary action. However, it will be appreciated if an earliest convenient time is accorded for a meeting with the CAIT delegation to discuss the flaming issue.
Thank you. With kind regards
Yours truly
Praveen Khandelwal
National Secretary General
Confederation of All India Traders
Vipin Ahuja
President, Delhi Chapter
Confederation of All India Traders
