J-K clampdown, floods hit Akal Garh Market biz

Shivani Bhakoo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 20

Shopkeepers at Akal Garh Market here, who supply stocks to trades in the adjoining states and have the annual turnover of over Rs 400 crore, are badly hit due to a sharp decline in their business. About 30 per cent buyers from the state of Jammu and Kashmir have not turned up to place orders for winter clothing this time.

The floods in the region have further compounded their problem. This is the worst phase of business they are facing in the past three decades, say the shopkeepers.

Chairman of Akalgarh Market Shopkeepers Association Arvinder Singh Tony said before Eid, buyers started thronging to the market for winter orders. “While the festival has passed, there are no buyers from Jammu and Kashmir yet. We are sitting idle. It is absolutely a dull business this time,” said Tony.

There are about 700-800 shops in the market, most of them dealing in garments. They sell shirts, T-shirts, lowers and trousers in summer and jackets/sweaters during winter. Orders from Jammu and Kashmir alone account for 30 per cent of their business in winter.

A shopkeeper, Maninderpal Singh Middha, said it was one of the oldest markets in Punjab which was started by people uprooted in 1984 riots. Gurdwara Akal Garh Sahib had provided them with the space to construct the shops. The shopkeepers pay a nominal rent of about Rs 500-600 per month.

A few shopkeepers quit business here after two or three years as there were no buyers. With passage of time, the market became a hub of garments and buyers from Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir started placing orders.

“In the past over three decades, this is for the first time that we are facing such recession. Those who have employed 20 persons have asked 10 of them to leave because of declining sales. Earlier, traders from Jammu and Kashmir placed big orders but this time, the buyers have not turned up. Secondly, floods have compounded the problem. Shopkeepers of the region are also not coming here to make purchases,” said Middha.

The otherwise jam-packed market presented a deserted look today. The shopkeepers were eagerly waiting for business to pick up again.