The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Saturday urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to issue an advisory to all State Governments to compensate the traders for the loss of business due to three consecutive Covid-induced lockdowns.. 

The traders body has urged the Home Minister to constitute a special task force of senior government officials along with traders to advise the State Governments through NDMA on compensation.

The traders body said that Section 12 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 clearly states that compensation for the loss of the people affected by any calamity will be provided by the State government to restore the means of earning livelihood and National Disaster Management Authority should issue guidelines. 

CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that due to the pandemic, the Government has thrice imposed lockdown in Delhi since 2020, in which the first 2 lockdowns were for a long time and the traders were directed to close their shops. 

“While this year due to the rapid increase in the covid cases , the government imposed many restrictions, due to which the means of livelihood of the traders of Delhi were badly affected. Traders not only had to close their shops but also had to pay salaries as per the government order to support their employees. Due to these circumstances, traders are facing a financial crisis on a large scale,” he added 

Khandelwal said that neither the Central Government or the Delhi Government gave any economic package nor any assistance to the traders, while other sections of the economy were given economic package & assistance in various ways. 

CAIT said that a large number of traders are in huge debts and bearing the huge burden of interest being paid to banks and other financial institutions. They are also facing tax-related penalties, it added.