The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Tuesday strongly came out in support of the government's decision to extend the nationwide lockdown till May 3 to check the spread of COVID-19.
The confederation said that the decision is a "logical and extremely important step" desired under the present circumstances due to the grave threat of COVID-19 across the country.
"There are about 7 crore traders in the country, out of which about 1.5 crore traders deal in essential commodities. But only 40 lakh of them have been able to continue supply chain across the country because of several difficulties in obtaining passes from the authorities and non-availability of transport," CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said.
Although the traders are one of the worst-hit sections due to the lockdown, the trading community extended support to the government with the idea of "nation first".
He said that nearly 80 percent of employees of traders have migrated to their villages while only 20 per cent of employees are engaged in the supply of essential goods.
"Keeping in view the extension of the lockdown, it is necessary to enhance the numbers of shops considerably dealing in essential commodities so that people, in general, may not suffer in procuring their daily needs," Khandelwal added.
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CAIT has assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the traders under any circumstances will continue to run the supply chain of essential goods in a most efficient and effective manner so that citizens don't face difficulties with their daily requirements.
According to the traders' confederation, Indian retail traders have suffered a loss of Rs 3.15 lakh crores during the lockdown so far.
CAIT has also urged the government to ensure the smooth availability of curfew passes to the traders dealing in essential goods and their employees and availability of modes of transport for the movement of goods.