Delhi Air Pollution: The air quality which is becoming increasingly severe in Delhi-NCR has now started having a deep impact not only on the health of the common people but also on the pace of retail business in the capital. Due to poisonous air and increasing pollution, the major markets of Delhi are not seeing the same hustle and bustle as before. Whereas on normal days around 3 to 4 lakh people from different areas of NCR used to go to Delhi markets for shopping, now this number has come down to around one lakh.
Due to continuous warnings about pollution on TV, newspapers and social media, people are avoiding leaving their homes. Especially the elderly, children and people suffering from respiratory diseases are avoiding coming to the markets, due to which shopkeepers are facing the problem of severe shortage of customers.
Concern of traders increased before Christmas-New Year
Traders say that due to pollution, people are facing problems like burning in eyes, difficulty in breathing and sore throat, due to which they do not want to go out unnecessarily. This has had a direct impact on the footfall of the markets and in many areas shops are seen almost deserted throughout the day.
This situation has come to the fore at a time when big festivals like Christmas and New Year are near, which usually lead to expectations of good shopping in the markets. According to Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) Chairman Brijesh Goyal and General Secretary Gurmeet Arora, every year at this time customers come to Delhi markets not only from NCR but also from other states, but this time pollution has ruined the business prospects.
Demand for emergency meeting from central government
Business organizations believe that this problem is not limited to Delhi only, but the situation is almost the same in the entire NCR. AQI has also reached the severe category in cities like Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad and Sonipat. CTI Senior Vice President Deepak Garg and Vice President Rahul Gandhi say that unless the governments of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan come together and make a common strategy, it will be difficult to control pollution. Regarding this demand, CTI has written a letter to Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav and appealed to call an emergency meeting in which the Chief Ministers and Environment Ministers of all the concerned states should participate.
Traders have warned that if concrete steps are not taken soon, the retail business may have to suffer huge losses in the coming days. CTI Patron Suresh Aggarwal and Vice President Rajesh Khanna said that about 20 lakh traders of Delhi are standing with the government and are ready to cooperate in every necessary step to deal with pollution. He also indicated that if measures like change in opening and closing timings of markets are taken, all the market associations will fully support the government. Overall, the poisonous air has taken away the beauty of Delhi’s markets and unless pollution is effectively controlled, the problems of the retail sector will only increase.
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