Merchants from commercial hubs in city seek at least limited hours opening

Mysore/Mysuru: Multiple business houses and businessmen in city have hit out at the State Government move to enforce semi-lockdown till May 4 and have said that the potential damage is immense. At the same time, the Government has maintained that it has struck a balance between protecting jobs, the economy and saving lives.

When India went into one of the harshest lockdowns in the world on March 25 last year, the impact on businesses was so grave that the economy went into recession. Now with new restrictions, traders and businessmen fear that whatever economic recovery has been achieved in the past six months could be wiped out.

While agriculture, where much of the activity is in the rural belts, did not suffer as much, manufacturing, supply network and logistics took a hard hit.  The disturbing rise in the number of virus infections has brought in a sense of déjà vu as businessmen have reacted in the same way in which they did in 2020.

Gross negligence

While last year it could be said that the event was a shock to the world and hence we did what everyone else did. But this time it shows sheer lack of preparedness and now businessmen are made to suffer, traders alleged. Many businessmen in the heart of the city — in the Central Business District — have complains that they have not seen a good business activity since March last year. “When we were allowed to open outlets post-lockdown, business picked up slowly but now again there is a lockdown-like situation. Take D. Devaraj Urs for example. This is a commercial hub and always filled with tourists and shoppers. Since the last one year there has been a lull in business. Especially affected are garment shops, watch outlets, shoe and accessories shops, bags and jewellery shops,” Raj Anand, a cloth merchant, said. 

A small outlet on Urs Road pays a monthly rent of Rs. 1.50 lakh for a 15X30-ft outlet and spends a total of Rs. 3.5 lakh to Rs. 4 lakh in other expenditure including electricity, taxes and staff salary depending on the number of persons employed. “We have to take loans from lenders every month to fulfil the basic expenditure. 

In such a situation, if we do not get business, how are we supposed to survive? We are emptying our cash reserves to tide over the crisis and I am not sure when will the crisis end,” said Pradeep Singh who owns a shop on Urs Road. 

Paying rent is a struggle

There are over 250 outlets on Devaraj Urs Road and 90 percent of the businessmen have taken the shops on rent. “Paying rent every month is a struggle. Despite the crisis, we have not got a single rupee from the Government as compensation and it is due to sheer negligence of our rulers we are in dire straits. If we delay the tax payment even by a day, we are penalised while there is no accountability for politicians,” he said. 

“Business had slightly picked up after the lockdown was lifted and now again it is a pack-up time. Where will get the money from? It is invariable to shut the business. While during normal days, we use to make 10 percent business and weekends used to get 50 percent business. Now with weekend curfew, we will lose out heavily,” said Devichand Salecha. 

Similar sentiments were echoed by Syed Mujahid who owns a store. He pays a monthly rent of Rs. 1 lakh and said that there has been no business since this Ugadi and previous months too have been tough, he said. 

‘Let us open for limited hours’

President of Devaraj Urs Merchants Association Veerabhadrappa said that over 18 shops including branded showrooms have shut shop on the road since the pandemic began last March. Another 10 shops are on the verge of closure. “We are in deep crisis and instead of closing down the shops, we must be permitted to function at least six to eight hours a day,” he noted. 

Mahendra Jain and Veerendra Singh Narwal too said that they must be permitted to run shops for at least six to eight hours so that at least the rent can be paid. “My shop had to be closed as there was only 20 percent sale and it was difficult to pay the rent and salary. For us, the best option was to close instead of functioning under losses,” Veerendra Singh said.