Delhi’s Shopkeepers Are Not ATMs — End the Suffocating Conversion and Parking Charges NOW
For generations, Delhi’s commercial lifeblood has flowed through its local markets and neighborhood shops. These are not just businesses — they are family legacies, built brick by brick with hard-earned money, sweat, and sleepless nights. But today, those very lifelines are under attack — not from foreign invaders, but from our own system. Today, a middle class businessman feels that he should leave Delhi, as he fear that someday an officer might come with a notice and seal its shop and put an end to the lifeline of his family.

Conversion Charges. Parking Charges. Sealing. Penalties. Fear.
This is the new reality for Delhi’s middle-class shopkeepers.

What began as a dream to earn an honest living has become a daily nightmare. A shop that once fed a family, educated children, and even supported a few employees, is now crushed under bureaucratic burdens and endless government fees. The most pressing among them: conversion charges and parking charges — even on commercially notified roads. Do these politicians or officers or bureaucrat, even think logically while making such law or they just make laws as per their liking. They are destroying livelihood of many middle class businessman with such charges. A man can put such money in its business and expand it, but no, they want to give it to govt for what, for opening a shop. 

Let’s ask a simple question: How can a shopkeeper who barely earns what he used to 10 years ago, afford to pay lakhs in arbitrary “charges”?

These are not mega-corporations hoarding black money. These are small-time traders and shop owners who have already survived:

• Demonetization, which wiped out liquidity overnight
• GST, which added complex compliance requirements
• COVID lockdowns, which completely halted business
• Sealing drives, that felt more like a raid than regulation
• And now? A new weapon: Conversion and parking charges — used not just as a fee, but as a threat. A stick to beat them into submission.

Is this governance — or extortion?
Government officers have been known to show up with sealing orders, demanding lakhs in backdated charges, some of which were never clearly communicated or transparently calculated. These “dues” often match the entire lifetime savings of the shop owner. Is this how a democracy treats its working class?

Even the British Raj and the Mughal Empire — who ruled for revenue — didn’t crush local traders with such relentless taxation and harassment. Today’s small business owners are made to feel like criminals, simply for existing on land the government had already notified as commercial. We don't understand the logic behind taking conversion and parking charges even on commercial notified roads.

We demand:

1. An immediate end to conversion and parking charges, atleast on commercially notified roads in Delhi.
2. A stop to arbitrary sealing of shops based on retrospective or unclear notices. There should be no fear among shopkeepers that their shops can be sealed. They are not doing anything illegal, just earning honestly.
3. A transparent and fair grievance redressal system to protect shopkeepers from exploitation.
   These are not unreasonable demands. These are survival requirements.

Let’s not forget — the middle-class trader is the backbone of this city's economy. When they fall, Delhi falls. No government that claims to be for the people can justify policies that suffocate its own citizens while favoring unchecked real estate giants and luxury malls.

It’s time to choose: Revenue or Humanity? Regulation or Repression?
Sign this petition. Raise your voice. Share this story.

Because if we stay silent today, tomorrow they’ll come for every other honest worker in this country — and there will be no one left to speak.