Traders under the banner of the Meghalaya Chamber of Commerce (MCC) are up in arms over the extension of a shopping expo in the town, which they say is ruining their pre-Christmas business.
The MCC said that its traders will down shutters during the festive season if their expo is extended beyond Wednesday.
Shopkeepers were looking forward to some Christmas shopping to boost their businesses after a hard year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the expo has been luring away shoppers from their own stores.
“We will have to shut down shops if our request to not extend the expo beyond Dec 15 goes unheeded. The trade fair was supposed to have ended some time ago but was extended for some reason and continues till today,” said Wilver G Danggo, president of the MCC.
The MCC opined that the festive season was the only time for local businessmen to earn money after a difficult pandemic situation and if the expo is allowed to continue it will have a huge impact on the traders.
The decision to oppose the trade fair was taken following an emergent meeting held on Sunday. The members also decided not to allow similar expos during the festive season (September-December) in future. It was also decided that future organisers of such events in and around Tura would have to get a no-objection certificate from the MCC, though how this would apply legally is unclear.
