Merchants and traders have stepped up their demand to allow entry of vehicles through the iconic Sweet Meat (SM) Street in Kozhikode city.
Businesses had drastically fallen and hundreds of employees had lost their jobs following the lockdown following the COVID-19 pandemic, they said. A major reason was the traffic ban between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. “The lockdown came after a series of crises that engulfed the trading community. Demonetisation, implementation of GST, and the Nipah outbreak had dealt a blow to the traders,” C.E. Chakkunny, president, Malabar Development Council, said.
The district administration decided to ban the entry of vehicles after multiple-level talks with traders and other stakeholders three years ago. Even protests and meetings were banned on SM Street after evening shoppers complained that such events were causing inconvenience to them.
Mr. Chakunny said that the authorities should allow vehicles to pass through SM Street until arrangements were made for parking. Promises to set up parking plazas at Kidson Corner and Link Road had not materialised. These were just confined to laying foundation stones, he said.
At present, parking facilities behind SM Street and godown remained unutilised after the renovation of the commercial street. So parking and unloading of goods were done at adjacent roads, Mr. Chakunny said.
Now, building owners and shop keepers had fallen into a debt trap and banks had already initiated revenue recovery proceedings against many of them.
Several organisation such as All Kerala Goods Distributors Association, Calicut Chamber of Commence and Industry, City Merchants Association, M.P. Road Merchants Association and New Bazaar Merchants Association have sought the intervention of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Labour Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan to solve the issue.
Previously, the Vyapari Vyavasai Ekopana Samithi and the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasai Samithi had staged protests urging the district administration and the civic body to permit shopkeepers to take vehicles to the SM Street.