Recently elected President of the strategic Ware House-Nehru Market in Jammu, Deepak Gupta, talks to The News Now about excessive regulations for traders, missing amenities that hinder business, how the federation stepped up to deal with the pandemic, and what hopes this community has from the administration.
Deepak Gupta, President, Traders Federation Ware House-Nehru Market
1. What are the issues that traders face in Jammu, particularly in Ware House-Nehru Market?
The traders of Ware House-Nehru Market, which was established in 1960, still suffer at the hands of system which is infected with ‘inspector raj’. We are the fourth generation of traders working here, and witness everyday how excessive regulations and permits, some even redundant, trammel setting up and running of any business.
Goods & Services Tax Commissionerate, Jammu & Kashmir harasses traders for simple clerical mistakes such as missing/misreported GSTIN number and imposes huge penalty. The working of Department of Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs seems dubious when the samples collected from our shops fail in Jammu lab but are declared pass in Kolkata lab.
There are some 380 odd wholesale shops here, which form the supply chain of essential items for all of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. These shops provide regular employment to over 5500 persons, and temporary employment to over 2000 persons, and collect nearly Rs 300 Crore as tax every year. Yet, the administration has failed to provide us with basic amenities.
2. What are the demands of your Federation from the administration?
We have entered the third decade of the 21st century, hence, augmenting the infrastructure in the market is imperative.
Jammu Development Authority should construct first floor for every shop, so as to provide shelter for the labourers working here, and traders who come from another district or state, while Jammu Municipal Corporation should construct as much as necessary toilets in the market.
Further, the authorities should provide big enough space for godown where the trucks can load and unload items; provide parking space for hundreds of trucks that come here daily; work on improving the pre-modern era type of drainage system; and macadamize the market area.
3. What are your demands from the administration as businessmen?
To talk of business in general, it is high time Jammu and Kashmir administration devises a trade policy that looks after the interests of our local trader community. We suggest an interest rebate of atleast 4%; monitoring of online trade; and review of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail sector, as they are hindering the business of lakhs of small traders.
In view of the second wave of COVID19, which forced us to restrict our business activities yet again, we hope for another relief package from the administration.
4. How has the Federation dealt with COVID19?
With the outbreak of first wave of COVID19 in the year 2020 and subsequent lockdown, people faced unprecedented challenges. One of them was running out of food. So, the federation decided to provide free ration to the needy.
This year, when the second wave hit the region, the crisis aggravated. We could see shortage of life saving oxygen, and medicines amongst other issues. As such, the federation formed three war rooms on 20th May to help Jammu combat the pandemic. 565 members of the federation have generously agreed to bear the cost of these war rooms, and the volunteers have come forward to answering the call of duty.
The Oxygen War Room has 120 cylinders, 5 bi-pap machines, 5 oxygen concentrators, and sufficient oxy-flow meters, which are being provided to anyone in need contacting on the given phone numbers without security fees. So far, more than 155 people have been provided with refilled oxygen cylinders and 33 people with bi-pap machines.
The Ration War Room is providing free dry ration kits, inclusive of flour, turmeric powder, salt, sugar, pulses, rice etc, to 150 people on daily basis.
Similar to government’s medical kits for COVID positive patients in home isolation, the Medicine War Room is providing free medical kits, inclusive of necessary tablets like zinc, multi vitamins, oxy-flow meters, etc to patients who contact them.
Meanwhile, to ensure the well-being of our own market fraternity, we have conducted vaccination camp besides frequently organising testing/sampling camps.
5. How is the Federation preparing for the imminent third wave?
While we still battle the second wave and its aftereffects, the third wave, as is being said, will affect the kids the most. Even thinking of children hospitalized makes our heart weep. The civil society and government must come together and minimize the challenge. The federation is planning to distribute indoor game kits, which would help keep children occupied and entertained.
Also: Read my article at The News Now
The Inside Out
Published in The News Now on 9th June, 2021
waliaharry 