Farmers' protests affected trade, economic activities worth Rs 5,000 cr: Traders' body
Dec 15, 2020
New Delhi [India], December 15 : The farmers' protests affected trade and other economic activities worth Rs 5,000 crore during the past 20 days, said Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Tuesday.
As per a statement, an estimate of about 30 to 40 per cent of the goods coming to Delhi have been affected by the protests, adversely affecting trade activities.
The CAIT held a meeting with leaders of sectors of the economy associated with agriculture, calling on farmers to resolve their issues by talking to the government, and also called upon the Centre to listen to the farmers.
The leaders sympathised with the legitimate demands of the farmers saying that it was essential to convert the deficit farming to profit farming and to encourage common farmers to continue in a better way.
They also said that the farm laws not only affected farmers, but also allied sectors such as transport, agricultural commodity trade, food grains, consumers, food processing, seed and pesticide sector, fertilizers, etc, and that there was a need to protect the interest of all stakeholders through these laws.
A joint committee has been formed to discuss matters with the farmers, with farmer leader Naresh Sirohi as the Convener.
"In view of the current situation arising out of the farmers' movement and the possible impact of this movement on economic activities, an attempt will be made to hold a meeting of farmer leaders and all leaders of other concerned sections soon on the current issues. A formula should be drawn on mutual coordination to convert the deficit farming into profit farming. A joint committee of prominent leaders of all sections was formed under the Convenorship of prominent farmer leader Shri Naresh Sirohi and Shri Krishan Veer Chaudhary, as joint convener. This committee will hold a meeting soon after interacting with the farmer leaders who are agitating," the statement said.
It further said that while they respected the farmer's democratic right to protest, it must be ensured that the democratic rights of other sectors may not be encroached upon.
"Delhi is neither an agricultural state nor an industrial state, but it is the largest commercial distribution centre of the country, where goods from different states of the country come and goods from Delhi to all the states of the country are supplied," it said, adding that if this continued, other sections would face huge losses in the near future, adding on to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
