Sealing drive | Traders to observe bandh from February 2-4

Traders in the national Capital on Wednesday extended the bandh to 72 hours in the wake of the sealing drive. The bandh will be observed on February 2, 3 and 4. Earlier, the traders' body had called for a 48-hour bandh.

The decision was taken in 'Mahapanchayat' of over 500 traders who gathered at the Constitution Club under the leadership of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).

The bandh will witness over 500 wholesale and retail markets shutting down in the Capital while the traders will sit on a dharna at different places each day. Around 7 lakh traders in the Capital will participate in the bandh.

The traders will sit outside the Town Hall in the Walled City on the first day of the dharna on Friday, followed by Karol Bagh market (Arya Samaj Road) and Sadar Bazar (12 tooti chowk) on the second and third day, respectively.

The traders demanded that the sealing drive be stopped immediately by bringing an ordinance in Parliament. They also demanded that all the units built before December 17, when the sealing drive started, be regularised and de-sealed.

" We support the bandh. The way the government regularised the unauthourised colonies, we demand that commercial establishments from which the traders earn their living too be regularised," said Vijay Prakash Jain, president, All India Traders Association.