Traders to move apex court against Tikri blockade

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, August 25

The Bahadurgarh Chamber of Commerce and Industries, a body representing over 9,000 large and small-scale units in Bahadurgarh town, has decided to approach the Supreme Court for getting removed the blockade by farmers at Tikri border.

The decision came almost a month after the trade body apprised the Union and the state governments of the adverse effects of the blockade. “We were expecting some firm action, but nothing has happened. The industries in Bahadurgarh have been suffering a monthly loss of Rs 2,000 crore. Around 2,000 units have either closed or are on the verge of closure,” said Narinder Chhikara, commerce chamber’s senior vice-president.

Chhikara maintained it was the government’s responsibility to provide safe passage for transportation of raw material and finished goods. “We will make the Centre, state government and the Delhi Police parties in our petition,” he said.

He claimed vehicles carrying raw material from Delhi or elsewhere had to take a detour, leading to 300 to 400 per cent escalation in input cost. “Around 7.5 lakh people are directly or indirectly employed at the industries in Bahadurgarh,” he said.

Farmers blame Police

Pargat Singh, a BKU (Rajewal) leader, said Tikri border had been sealed by the Delhi Police by setting up multi-layer barricading, hence farmers couldn’t be blamed for it. “We provide passage to every vehicle,” he said.