Unlock everything or nothing at all: 'Non-essential' businesses upset over being left out of unlock 1.0

Traders running “non-essential shops” say they are disappointed by the state government’s decision to not allow them to do business when the Covid restrictions are partially lifted on June 14.

Karnataka has announced certain relaxations from the lockdown for June 14 to June 21. These include extended operational hours for essential shops (vegetables, groceries, milk, meat, etc). Industrial units can operate at 50% of the capacity but all other businesses will remain shut.

Cloth and footwear merchants, jewellers, sweet vendors, et al cannot resume business as yet. These businesses have remained shut for almost two months now.

As if the lockdown wasn’t bad enough, the government’s refusal to waive property tax, trade licence fee, fixed electricity and water charges has further angered the traders.

Before the government announced the partial relaxation in the lockdown, trade activists from the CBD made frantic appeals to both the chief minister and the chief secretary, seeking permission to open all shops from 10 am to 2 pm on weekdays.

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Sajjan Raj Mehta, a trade activist, was livid: “The government should open everything or none at all. A partial lockdown will only add to the problem. How can industries run without traders who supply raw materials and sell the finished goods?”

He added that the government didn’t consult trade and industry bodies.

According to Mehta, traders dealing in apparel, jewellery and electrical appliances have been the worst hit and should be allowed to do business from 10 am to 2 pm.

An office-bearer of the Karnataka Hosiery and Garment Association said: "Textile and garment stores employ lakhs of people. But with no business for two months, how do we pay rent, electricity and water bills, property tax and GST? The government must waive these charges."

Traders say about 50,000 workers have lost jobs across businesses in Chickpet and Gandhinagar areas, Bengaluru’s traditional shopping hubs that have more than 25,000 stores, each of which employs anywhere between four and 20 people.

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An office-bearer of the Chickpet Traders’ Association said the fact that the lockdown occurred in April-May, the peak season for business, had proved particularly damaging. "The restrictions on weddings and other activities have left us bleeding. The annual turnover has come down by 50-60 per cent,” the officer-bearer added.

The state of nearly 30,000 jewellers, which employ about five lakh people, isn’t any different.

T A Sharavana, president, Karnataka Jewellers’ Association, said everything had been shut. “Not just people in jewellery stores, even workers such as goldsmiths, polishers and finishers have been hit hard. We understand that lives are more important livelihoods, that is why we are complying with the restrictions. But we urge the government to provide relaxations to our sector soon,” he said.

Because of the lockdown, jewellers missed out on sales during Akshaya Tritiya, a day considered auspicious for buying gold. It falls in April or May. Jewellers say they missed it for the second straight year.

Akshaya Tritiya is considered so important that jewellers start preparing for it three months ahead.

"Missing out on the day has caused huge losses to the industry,” Sharavana said and urged the government to give them rebates from paying GST, property tax, electricity bill, trade taxes and other overheads.