00:00And then, there are economic costs of these protests.
00:03Connaught Place is one of Delhi's prime commercial hubs.
00:07But traders there are up in arms.
00:09They say these repeated disruptions are turning business hours into hours, days and weeks of uncertainty, chaos and economic losses.
00:21Fewer shoppers, falling footfall, mounting losses.
00:25They're not just hitting shop owners, but even daily wagers, small-time vendors, workers, families that depend on daily earnings.
00:34So, the Chief Justice of India, he's flagged this financial distress, distress that's faced by the small vendors.
00:41He's noted that the Delhi High Court has already taken up the issue that compensation may be possible under civil
00:48law.
00:49Traders, meanwhile, are seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention.
00:53Associations have moved the Supreme Court over these financial losses.
00:57The numbers paint a very stark picture of losses that traders are suffering every day, they say.
01:04So, what are the traders in Connaught Place and in the national capital saying in general?
01:10An estimated 2,000 crore rupees overall losses with business activity reportedly down to just 30% of the normal
01:19levels.
01:20The impact extends not just across Connaught Place, but Delhi's trading community.
01:2515 lakh traders, they say they have been adversely impacted by these series of protests that have been happening.
01:32Shopper footfall, it's reportedly plunged from 2 to 3 lakh a day to under 50,000 a day.
01:39Markets are struggling, shoppers are struggling, the shopkeepers are struggling just to stay afloat.
01:43In Delhi's upscale Khan market, for example, daily losses are estimated at between 5 and 7 crore a day.
01:53Not our figures, figures of the Traders Association.
01:56And that translates into an estimated 1.5 lakh losses per shop per day.
02:02The battle is now brewing between the right to protest and their right to earn their livelihood.
02:10India today's team of ground reporters, they fanned out across the national capital to get you a 360 degree perspective.
02:17We get you all sides of the story.
02:19You decide who's right, who's not.
02:27Protests, politics, police action.
02:31These seem to be the order of the day in the national capital in the recent times.
02:39Every day, Connaught Place braces for a new showdown.
02:42But Connaught Place has historically been known to be one of Delhi's iconic marketplaces.
02:47A name synonymous with recreation.
02:50Depending on that very ecosystem are hundreds of traders.
02:55Traders were now crying foul.
02:57And the battle over where the right to protest ends and the right to earn has begun.
03:04Delhi's trading community is pushing back.
03:07Their charge, repeated protests and blockades are hitting business, disrupting markets and threatening livelihoods.
03:14The battle reached the top court.
03:17Two traders' bodies, the Delhi Kirana Committee and the Khan Market Traders' Body flagged alleged financial losses.
03:25Their argument is blunt.
03:27CP is a commercial hub, not a protest site.
03:31They want demonstrations confined to designated locations.
03:35They have to be atrapeacting as well.
03:36To be said that, we have to concentrate on working on our property.
03:37Therefore, there are many people that are carrying bullseye by 50,000.
03:41Angerally from three million rupees of prison is not a shelter.
03:43If your shatter doesn't rise, then there are two things.
03:47The salary of the staff, the people who have been from there.
03:51And in the short term, six-eight people are worthy.
04:05The CGI has also taken note of the livelihood concerns.
04:09He urged all sides to let better sense prevail, acknowledging the hardships small vendors and their families could face.
04:17He further added that traders could raise their claims of business losses on October 26, noting that the Delhi High
04:24Court has already taken up the issue.
04:35The traders haven't stopped there. They have taken their fight to the centre.
04:39The New Delhi Traders Association has written to Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding a halt to protest in Sibi.
04:46It wants tighter security, adequate police deployment at market entry points and restrictions on protesters entering commercial areas.
04:56Meanwhile, CJP founder Abhijit Dipke has turned the tables on the traders' allegations.
05:02He argues that peaceful protests do not hurt businesses, government shutdowns and restrictions do, accusing the authorities of turning Delhi
05:10into a war zone.
05:11Dipke insists that protest is a fundamental democratic right, and the Congress has weighed in their support too.
05:40One protest, two competing claims, the right to protest on one side, the right to livelihood on the other.
05:47The question, whether both can coexist without the market becoming the battleground.
05:53Bureau Report, India Today.
