Markets across New Delhi are likely to remain closed on Tuesday after the Confederation of All India Traders called a bandh to protest against the municipal corporation’s sealing drive, the Hindustan Times reported.
The traders’ organisation said that about 2,000 market associations and seven lakh shopkeepers will participate in the one-day strike. “Whether wholesale or retail markets, no commercial activity will take place in the city tomorrow,” Praveen Khandelwal, the national secretary-general of CAIT, said on Monday after a meeting at meeting at Constitution Club of India that more than 400 representatives from leading trade associations attended.
The traders have planned a mass protest between 12 pm and 2 pm at Hauz Qazi in central Delhi, Kamla Nagar and Model Town in north Delhi, Rajouri Garden in western part of the city, South Extension in south Delhi and Krishna Nagar in east Delhi.
Major markets in south Delhi had remained closed on January 19 to protest against the civic body’s decision to close shops in the city’s major markets for carrying out unauthorised constructions.
Officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had on December 22 shut down several shops and restaurants in south Delhi’s Defence Colony Market for allegedly unauthorised constructions in their premises. The action was taken based on the direction of the Supreme Court, which had appointed a committee in 2006 for the purpose. Since then, they have taken action against shops in 20 markets, including Khan Market, Mehar Chand Market, Sundar Nagar, Hauz Khas, Rajendra Nagar, Chhatarpur and Vasant Kunj.
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