Lockdown in Delhi: Traders Association makes BIG demand

As Delhi is under total lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Delhi Traders Association (NDTA) has requested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to lift the lockdown and open markets in a phased manner ‘with strict enforcement of laws’ even as the ICMR chief Dr Balram Bhargava has suggested that lockdown should not be lifted from districts where the rate of infection is above 10 per cent of those tested.

NDTA president Atul Bhargava said that nobody was in favour of the lockdown since the beginning but that was the only option given the massive spike in COVID-19 cases in the national capital. “However, now we are of the opinion that the government instead of extending lockdown should open the markets in a phased manner with strict enforcement of laws and proper sanitisation”, Bhargava said as quoted by PTI.

“No relief has been given to traders in any form till date. We have to pay our EMI, salary, rents, payments, property tax, loan repayments, GST on time without any support from the government. More and more traders are finding it difficult to survive. I have written at least 150 letters to people in positing power requesting them to help the traders community, but have failed to receive a single reply so far,” the news agency quoted him as saying.

On May 9, CM Kejriwal had announced an extension in the lockdown by a week. The total shutdown in the national capital was supposed to end on Monday (May 10), 5 am, but the restrictions will now remain in force till May 17.