Delhi-based small and medium exporters would meet the chief minister Shiela Dikshit on Monday demanding that trade operations, other than manufacturing activities, be allowed to function out of residential areas in the capital. The move follows reports of the Delhi government permitting fashion designers to operate out of residential areas and thereby exempting them from the ongoing sealing operations.
?We will submit a petition on Monday to the chief minister and then also try to get an audience with the Lieutenant Governor as well as the Union urban development minister. Around 2,000 traders involved in exports, each of them providing a livelihood to 500 families, will be affected if their activities are sealed,? Rita Nahata, secretary, society for small and medium exporters said.
The activities of the exporters are mostly in handicrafts, handmade garments, embroidery, shells, leather items and floor covering where they do only value addition activities that does not either pollute or use extra electricity or cause traffic jams in residential areas. She said the exporters are going through their worst phase having suffered due to the recent rupee appreciation phenomenon. The rupee’s slide through 2007 had led to handicraft and carpet exports falling by more than half, while leather and small scale industry products like linoleum had also suffered significantly.
?Around 400 exporters, in areas like Lajpat Nagar, GK-II, Patel Nagar and trans-Yamuna region, have already shifted their units to Noida following the sealing operation of the government. Even in Noida and Manesar, properties are very expensive and this is denting the margins of exporters badly,? Nahata told FE. The exporters contribute around Rs 200 crore to the total export earnings of the country. Around three decades ago, the DDA and the Delhi government had allowed these activities to function out of residential areas. as they are not related to manufacturing, Nahata pointed out.