NEW DELHI: The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Tuesday, January 12, 2022, wrote to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to reconsider the decision on the order of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to close private offices in Delhi.
The letter was sent after the DDMA issued fresh guidelines on Tuesday ordering the closure of all private offices and asking people to work from home. CAIT National Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said: “There are more than three lakh private offices in Delhi in which lakhs of people earn their livelihood. The decision to shut down the offices will adversely affect such people. The Delhi government has been issuing orders daily without taking us into consideration.”
He added, “We’ve been writing to the authorities to make some policy on work from home but to no effect. The work-from-home process can be adopted by corporate offices, but what about non-corporate offices which are yet to adopt the technology. It is an immature decision. The government should at least consider our views while taking such big decisions.”
CAIT State President Vipin Ahuja and State General Secretary Devraj Baweja said that CAIT has suggested to the Lieutenant Governor that private offices working in Delhi should be allowed to work with 50 per cent staff capacity where the Covid protocols will be followed rigorously.
Ahuja said the traders of Delhi also fully agree with the government’s concern regarding the increase in Corona infection and all the business associations of Delhi want to cooperate with the government so that the spread can be controlled rapidly. CAIT has also sought time to meet the Lieutenant Governor in this regard.
Vijay Prakash Jain, President Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal New Delhi, however, said that considering the bad health situation in the city, the government has taken the right decision to close all private offices. “The government is trying to stop the number of cases from rising and we shall obey the fresh guidelines by the DDMA,” he said. New Delhi Traders’ Association president Atul Bhargava said, “We will be undergoing a major economic loss yet again.”
