In Bahadurgarh, an industry body representing around 9,000 industrial units has sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to de-seal the Delhi-Haryana border at Tikri — the protest site of the ongoing farmers’ agitation. It cited huge financial losses to businesses and inconvenience to employees.
In a two-page letter, Narinder Chhikara, vice-president of Bahadurgarh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has urged the Prime Minister to direct the Delhi Police to open at least one carriage of the road connecting Delhi and Bahadurgarh for traffic to provide respite to the industry.
“This border sealing is done by Delhi Police and they have not opened the Tikri border yet. For the benefit of the industry, which is stressed and adversely affected first by Covid-19 and then by the protest, we humbly request you to kindly intervene in this matter,” reads the letter.
Bahadurgarh, a major industrial town of Haryana, has around 9,000 MSMEs, including footwear, automobile, spare parts, and industrial manufacturing units employing around 7.5 lakh people directly and indirectly. Mr. Chhikara, in the letter, said around 2,000 units falling in Part-B of Modern Industrial Estate in Bahadurgarh was either closed or on the verge of closure with the transportation of the raw material and finished products to and from Delhi hit due to farmers’ agitation for the past 7 months.
He claimed that the sealing of the border due to the agitation had caused a turnover loss of around ₹20,000 crores to the industry, besides causing difficulty to the factory owners and their employees in commuting between their homes and workplace. He said that most of the employees and factory owners stayed in Delhi and had to take roads through nearby villages to reach Bahadurgarh. He said de-sealing would also bring cheers to lakhs of people of the town and make their life convenient.