Wholesale markets in Delhi wore a deserted look on Thursday, with the trading community observing a near-complete shutdown in support of Anna Hazare's fast for a strong anti-corruption Lokpal legislation.

The impact of the day-long traders' hartal could be seen across the major commercial hubs that surround the New Delhi Railway Station within a 5-km radial distance. On an ordinary day, only the really desperate or determined souls would venture to take their cars into this area that is a bustling entrepot for a wide variety of commodities.

But on this day, it was different. As one drove from the Ajmeri Gate exit of the station into Shradhanand Marg, which, apart from being the capital's Red Light district, hosts a line of shops dealing in machine tools, lathes, roller chains, V-belts, bearings, gen-sets, electric motors and pumps, there were few hurdles to encounter.

The story was the same as one proceeded to Khari Baoli (Asia's largest wholesale spices and dry fruits market that also hawks various chemicals, dyes and pigments), Naya Bazar (all grains and pulses), Sadar Bazar (cosmetics and general merchandise), Chawri Bazar (sanitary fittings and hardware), Chandni Chowk (textiles), Nai Sarak (paper and stationery), Bhagirath Place (electrical goods) and Kashmiri Gate (auto-parts).

Even from the Station's exit leading to Paharganj (which has many plywood, timber and laminate stores) and Karol Bagh (including Bank Street, the capital's bullion and jewellery hub), a uniform pattern of shuttered shops and labourers repeated itself.

“It is a total bandh. Everybody here, from the bania (trader) and munshi (accountant) to the pan-wallah , chai-wallah and redi-wallah (labourer), are with Anna,” declared Mr Ram Nivas Goel, a rice commission agent at Naya Bazar. “Our support is entirely voluntary and it is against corruption in general. There is nothing here that is specific to our community, as corruption affects everybody,” said Mr Nitin Gupta, a spices trader who specialises in pooja (festival) merchandise. The Secretary-General of the Confederation of All India Traders, Mr Praveen Khandelwal, however, claimed that the trading community was the ‘biggest victim' of corruption.

“Unlike others who experience it once a month, we face it every day. We are governed by about 30 laws that are a source of daily rent-seeking,” he said, while listing out the Shops and Establishment Act, Standards of Weights and Measures Act, Food Safety and Standards Act and Carriage by Road Act, among others. According to Mr Khandelwal, in addition to Lokpal, which would deal with corrupt people, “we also need a law of administrative accountability against officials who do not work even if they may not take bribes.”

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