Delhi govt's move to ban heavy vehicles in city to hurt business: CAIT

Opposing the Arvind Kejriwal-led government's decision to impose a five-month ban on entry of medium and heavy goods vehicles in Delhi from October, traders' body CAIT on Sunday said the move will hurt business in the national capital by restricting the transportation of goods.

In a bid to curb vehicular pollution, the Delhi government has decided to ban the entry of medium and heavy goods vehicles to the national capital from October to February.

Vehicles carrying raw vegetables, fruit, grains, milk and such essential commodities will, however, be allowed, according to officials.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said this decision of the government is redundant and has been taken without taking the consequences into consideration.

"This decision will result in a great crisis as with this draconian decision no goods will come to Delhi nor goods can be sent from Delhi for five months as all the goods in Delhi come in trucks from other states and trucks run on diesel. Due to the long distances no trucks can run on electric or CNG power," he said.

He stated that the decision will adversely affect the business of Delhi particularly at a time when these five months are always good for business due to festivals and the wedding season.

CAIT has called a meeting of Delhi's leading business associations on June 29, to decide the future course of action on the issue.

"Since it will also badly affect the transport business, CAIT is in talks with transport organisations and in collaboration will launch an agitation against Delhi Government," the traders' body said.