Prayagraj,

27 March (HS): During the New Delhi budget session in the Lok Sabha, Prayagraj

MP Ujjwal Raman Singh prominently raised the issue of the declining financial

situation of small and medium-sized shopkeepers. He demanded the government

enact strict regulations to curb the growing influence of online commerce and

to protect traditional retail.

MP

representative Vinay Kushwaha said that while addressing the House on the

crisis caused by online business and mall culture, MP Ujjwal Raman Singh said

that today, due to online business, goods are available at home, due to which

local shopkeepers are badly affected. He said, Due to lack of customers,

small traders are now getting buried under heavy debt of banks and wholesalers.

Many shops are on the verge of closure and some traders, burdened with debt,

are forced to take extreme steps like suicide.

He

expressed concern over the dominance of large industrialists and strongly

objected to the mall culture and the entry of large industrialists

into the retail trade. He argued that if large industrialists who own factories

also enter the retail trade directly, small traders will cease to exist. He

stressed that traders in lower markets have almost stopped getting credit,

leading to a working capital crisis.

Appealing

to the government through the House, Ujjwal Raman Singh stated that protecting

the interests of small and medium-sized businesses should be a priority for the

government. He demanded that clear and strict regulations be established for

online businesses. The monopoly of large industrialists in retail trade should

be curbed. A special relief package should be considered for businesses facing

debt crisis.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi