Small traders count their losses as Shaheen Bagh demonstration rages on

While the Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors spoke to the protesters at Shaheen Bagh, a 30-year-old manager of a garment showroom at Shaheen Bagh’s Road 13A watched

While the Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors spoke to the protesters at Shaheen Bagh, a 30-year-old manager of a garment showroom at Shaheen Bagh’s Road 13A watched on eagerly.

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“People like us who work here are eagerly waiting for the outcome of the talks. Traders here have lost their livelihood. The loss in the whole market must be in crores,” the man said adding that he is not against the protest. Some traders told HT that the market may have lost over ₹100 crore, and that some big establishments have lost lakhs a day.

Since December 16 last year, after protesters against the new citizenship law, initially led by elderly women, blocked Road 13A, around 300 retails shops, showrooms, offices and restaurants remain closed.

“The interlocutors must find a way. We are losing money every day. Before the protest started on December 16, we had all bought winter clothing. Winter is now over. We cannot sell the clothes we bought in bulk. Our money is gone,” he added.

Road 13A ,the venue of the sit-in protest at Shaheen Bagh, is flanked by around 300 shops on both sides. From small stores that sell locally stitched garments, to stores that sell branded items such as Blackberry, Louis Phillipe, Van Heusen, and Puma, there are shops and multi-storey stores at the market. The monthly rent for an 800 sq feet shop is around ₹80,000 here, while those who own larger shops pay around ₹2 lakh a month.

For the last 67 days, almost all shops on both sides of the road were shut. At a few shops, employees open the shutter once a week to ensure that the clothes were not damaged.

Many traders in the market said that while the owners of the shops selling luxury brands may survive the losses, a few of the smaller establishments had shut because the losses were too heavy to recover. Hindustan Times, however, could not independently verify these claims.

Apart from the shops, there are also two fuel stations and many hotels on Road 13A.

A fuel station employee said that their daily loss is over a lakh.

“We spend most of the time watching news on the giant screen at our fuel station these days. Before the road blockade, vehicles and motorcycle owners would come to our pump round-the-clock. This is an important road. The road ahead leading to Noida is blocked around 500m from here. Now, nobody uses this road except residents of Sarita Vihar, and other areas nearby. Our employer is facing huge losses,” he said.

Even as the protesters seem to agree on vacating one carriageway on Road 13A and allow traffic from Noida to Sarita Vihar, the traders here are unsure if this would be enough for their business. Most of the shops on Road 13A are on the other carriageway towards Kalindi Kunj where the protest is happening. The other carriageway, which could be vacated, has only around 15 shops.

While the apex court appointed interlocutors continue to engage with the protesters, traders are worried that the focus of the talks has been only about traffic jams, and not about their losses.

Our losses, the dent to their savings and the accumulated debt in these two months days is yet to be discussed, said Afroz, 25, an employee at a top footwear store said.