NEW DELHI: About 80 per cent of traders in the national capital want the Delhi government to lift the lockdown after June 1 and allow the markets to open with “stringent conditions”, a new survey has said.
The survey was conducted by the Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI), an Aam Aadmi Party backed trade union, sought the response nearly 560 organisations across various industries including, hotel and restaurant, as well as beauty and wellness associations.
According to CTI, most businesses are now facing crisis of survival. With Covid-19 cases and infection rate decreasing, it’s time come to allow markets and factories to open in Delhi from June 1, they said.
Brijesh Goyal, Chairmain of the CTI said, “The Delhi government was taking a very balanced decision by reviewing the situation every week and putting up a week-long lockdown.
Since the current lockdown is expiring on Monday, we conducted a survey among all the traders and associations which has thrown up this view that 80 per cent of traders favour opening lockdown from June 1.” Delhi has been battered by a Covid-19 second wave, at the peak of which it was recording close to 30,000 new cases per day and a positivity rate of 35 per cent.
Those numbers have been dropping steadily bringing the positivity rate down to 1.5 per cent. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also said that the lockdown cannot be extended indefinitely, “People’s livelihood is suffering, their businesses are shutting down.”