While thousands of farmers were busy taking on Delhi police, the commercial establishment on the NH-24 saw low footfall, some even had to bear losses worth lakhs. Amongst them were traders of Ghazipur vegetable mandi, who claimed to have lost lakhs, as their vehicles could not cross Uttar Pradesh border on time.
Violence broke out when farmers, marching towards Delhi, were stopped by police at the Delhi border on Tuesday. This blocked the National Highway-24 on Ghazipur-Delhi border areas. The blocked route made it difficult for the traders operating in Ghazipur sabzi mandi (vegetable market) to transport their goods across the borders.
"Many transporters rejected to take our goods to Uttar-Pradesh and Uttrakhand since they did not want to get caught in the jam. Delay of a few hours can affect vegetable quality, let alone a day's delay," said Radhe Shyam, who has been dealing in onions at Ghazipur Mandi.
Moreover, the traders also claimed to have received the supply very late and even had to pay double price for their purchases, since their purchases from these states were also halted after the trucks were either stuck on blocked roads or they had to opt for an alternate route to reach the mandi.
"Our purchases from Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand were either halted on borders for almost a day or they reached us through alternate routes, increasing fares by up to double," said Surender Goswami, President of the Ghazipur Sabzi Mandi.
The only thing that made conditions bit easy was the holiday, otherwise, the traders believe that the loss would have racked up to crores. "Due to holidays most of us had ordered lesser quantities, moreover we were prepared for a shortage of commercial vehicles, bring down our losses," added Goswami.
TRADERS IN A FIX
Traders claimed that many transporters refused to take goods to UP and Uttrakhand since they did not want to get caught in the jam. They even had to pay double price for their purchases, since their purchases from these states were also halted after the trucks were either stuck on blocked roads or they had to opt for an alternate route
