On possibility of staggered timings for Delhi’s markets traders are wary, threaten to protest

Atul Bhargava, President, New Delhi Traders Association, said, “We have not received any information of any such plan (of staggered timings). The government should have a discussion with major market associations and find a viable solution. If staggered timings are being planned for offices and markets, the government should allow markets to remain open from 12 pm to 8 pm/9 pm since by that time, peak office traffic in morning and evening would have passed. It does not make sense to shut markets at 6 pm. So, the government should have a discussion with traders.”

Market associations said they would protest if the government goes ahead with the plan to introduce staggered timings for shops.

Paramjit Singh Pamma, Federation of Sadar Bazar Market Association, said the decision to open markets with staggered timings would mean a substantial loss for the business community, which was slowly recovering from the slowdown during Covid.

“We are not aware of any such information about staggered timings for markets as of now. Instead of imposing these diktats, the government should find a long-term solution for the problem of stubble burning in Punjab and other states. The business community has to suffer due to incompetence of governments to find a solution to the problem of pollution. Opening markets at specific timings or opening shops on odd-even days, as was done earlier, is reactionary and does not solve the problem. Already, businesses have suffered losses in the past two years due to the pandemic. The move will be a death blow to the business community, which had just started to slightly recover. We will protest against the decision,” he said.