Waive-off month’s rent of traders; seeks relief measures for traders, hoteliers, transporters
Jammu: Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI) Jammu on Wednesday urged the Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta for completely unlocking Jammu and restoring normal business activity as the COVID-19 cases have been receded considerably.
In the urgent meeting held here today at Chamber House Jammu, Arun Gupta, President CCI said that the business community of the region is passing through the worst ever time of their entire life due to extreme financial crunch faced on account of continuous lockdowns and prevailing uncertainty. To save the businessmen of Jammu there is dire need that the partial lockdown which is in force these days should be lifted henceforth so that the trading fraternity picks up the pieces and once again start their life bit by bit, he said.
The CCI President made a fervent appeal for considering their demand of waiving off electricity bills and also giving moratorium to the traders to give at least some respite from the mounting financial hardships which they are confronting right now.
He said that expenses of the traders are standing tall but the income is nowhere in the scene making their position topsy-turvy therefore they have nowhere to go but only government can bail them out from this tough situation which they are facing without any fault of theirs, apart from this Arun Gupta also took up issue of hotel industry and transporters claiming that these two sectors have also been hit hard due to corona curfew and need to be taken care of by the government. He demanded that hotels and restaurants should be allowed to function with 50 per cent capacity with the extending time up to 10 PM and increase the number of guests capacity at Banquet Hall upto 100 pax.
The Jammu Chamber also appealed to the Chief Secretary to waive off traders rent in view of decline in business activity due to corona curfew imposed on account of second wave of the lethal coronavirus that has wreaked havoc in the entire UT of J&K.
Arun Gupta has made a fervent appeal before the Jammu Development Authority (JDA), Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and J&K Housing Board to take a considerate view and let go last month’s rent of shops and other business establishments given on lease to the trader community in various markets and malls in the region. He made it clear that over two months have passed since the business activity has been badly affected on account of curbs imposed in wake of unprecedented rise in the coronavirus cases and most of the businessmen are sitting idle at home with no income whatsoever and the regular expenses giving no respite. He said that taking into account the aforesaid situation there is dire need that JDA, JMC and the Housing Board should come forward and help the curfew-hit business community by waiving off the rent for the at least one month.
The Jammu Chamber hoped that in the next Covid SOPs, Chief Secretary would take adequate steps to restore normalcy in Jammu as soon as possible to rejuvenate business activity which was snarled after the imposition of corona curfew in wake of second wave of COVID-19.
Those who were present in the meeting include Sh. Anil Gupta Sr. Vice-President, Sh. Rajeev Gupta Jr. Vice-President, Sh. Gaurav Gupta Secretary General, Sh. Rajesh Gupta Secretary and Sh. Rajesh Gupta Treasurer.
