Shut for seven weeks, stores face rat attack, traders’ body say losses huge

Noida: For 52 days, the shutters have been down. Losses have been piling up and there is no definite end in sight.
For traders of perishables and stationery items, though, there is an added worry — rats.
Anita Singh, vice president of the Sector 18 Market Owners’ Association found out the hard way.
“A bank needed some stationery products fast. I opened my store to find the entire space had been invaded by rats. Sector 18 has always had a rodent problem because of its drains and underground sewage, but this was something else. Paper goods were bitten into, cartons torn apart. I think store owners are in for a shock when they finally get to reopen,” she said.
Rahul Gupta, owner of Electro World in Sector 18 had, like Anita, gone to his store for an errand.
“I saw rats have chewed on cable wires and the cartons, which were full of goods. The packaging of a lot of items must have been destroyed in the nearly two-month gap. No customer will buy these packages. We don’t know what to do now. We may have to ask the manufacturer to replace packaging,” he said.
Most shop owners who tried opening their shops said they saw rodents have laid waste to the entire space inside, destroying stationery products, shoe boxes, cartons full of goods among other things.
The NCR unit of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) estimated losses worth Rs 100 crore in Noida during the lockdown because of no pest control in sealed shops.
“We have requested that the shop owners be given a four-hour slot in the coming days to open the stores and check the condition of the shops. There have been bouts of heavy rain over the last two months, which must have allowed growth of fungus, accumulation of dirt, and other problems behind the shutters. By our estimates, we think goods worth at least Rs 100 crore may have been damaged in Noida,” said Sushil Kumar Jain, convener, CAIT-NCR.
Traders have forwarded a request that they should be given a few days time before the lockdown is lifted so they can clean and sanitise their stores so that the customers can step in. The shops may need heavy-duty disinfection before they go back to business.
The traders have also asked for a detailed standard operating procedures (SOP) for each category of retail for how the goods are to be sanitised, displayed and shown to the customers for sales after the lockdown is lifted.
“Shops will have to find new ways to operate. Brick and mortar shops used to be places where customers would pick and touch the products to understand what they need. That will not be allowed so freely any more. How will furniture and clothes be sold? We need a detailed directives from the government. Additionally, all wares on display in shops will need to be sanitised, we need directions for that also. We have to think and find solutions so that shops do not become infected or spread the infection,” said Jain.