A newly formed Canara Udyamigala Okkuta, which is a united forum of traders and entrepreneurs in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, on Thursday threatened non-cooperation during the weekend curfew, terming it as unscientific.
Addressing presspersons in Udupi on Thursday, okkuta honorary president M.G. Hegde and okkuta president Santosh Kamath said that the traders and entrepreneurs will keep their establishments open on January 22 and January 23, even if there is a curfew order in place.
This decision, they said, was taken at a meeting of representatives of 30 organisations under the okkuta in Udupi on Thursday. The okkuta will also oppose night curfew, they added.
They said that the okkuta felt that the decision to impose night curfew and weekend curfew was not appropriate. It has not helped in reducing COVID-19 cases.
The okkuta questioned the Government allowing political and religious programmes with mass gatherings on week days. If the Government or the experts feel that such programmes are not contributing for the spread of COVID-19, then how will retail trading result in continuing the chain of infection, they asked.
They said that CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau India Ltd.) scores of many traders and entrepreneurs who have availed themselves of bank loans have gone down due to irregular payment of EMIs. This came about due to weekend curfew and lockdown, as traders and entrepreneurs have suffered loses.
They said that banks have now blacklisted names of such persons who have had a good track record of repaying loans during the pre-COVID-19 period as they have now been rendered unable to make regular payments due to the pandemic. Banks should remove names of such persons from their blacklist and enable traders and entrepreneurs to take new loans. They said that all business establishments will be opened on Saturdays and Sundays also to protest against the Government’s decision.
