chandigarh the trade body associated chambers of commerce and industry assocham has said punjab could incur losses to the tune of nearly rs 15 lakh crore if ongoing farmers protests against centres new farm laws are not brought under controlthe industry body has said farmers protests in punjab would only help nearby states of haryana delhi and rajasthan in the growth of their trade assocham said as per the analysis conducted by a leading research firm goods worth around rs 4500 crore which need to be exported are stuck at transporting stations in punjab moreover imports of nearly rs 7500 crore have not reached ludhiana due to ongoing stoppage of freight trainsin addition the state government has also incurred revenue losses of nearly rs 300 crore punjab finance minister manpreet singh badal had said punjab would alone suffer losses of rs 4000 crore every year due to these antifarmer legislationsamrit sagar mittal regional chairman of assocham said we understand that farmers may have some genuine reservations with respect to the recently passed farm laws however this agitation is now causing economic losses not only to large businesses but also small kiranas who are primary customershe said this has also led to job losses to daily wage earners who were mostly employed indirectly as thirdparty logistics providers the monthlong agitation has also impacted the income of small farmers said mittalindustries that are likely to be impacted due to the agitation of punjab farmers are rice processing leather tractor parts cotton hosiery bicycle engineering goods and hand tool industry also there is a gap created in the supply chain within the state especially in the case of the fruits and vegetables market milk and poultry productsdeepak sood secretary general of assocham said this ongoing agitation has impacted a lot in the shipping costs especially being in a landlocked state like punjab there is a major shortage of empty containers coming in and likewise in shipping out the goods by trainhe said the option to transport through trucks is expensive and it gets tough to work on lesser margins for units based in punjab urging all stakeholders to resolve this roadblock at the earliest sood said even the condition of state and national highways could deteriorate in the coming months since no toll was being collected at the toll plazas for over a monththe rail roko stir has compounding the crisis triggered by the covid19 pandemic in punjab kulvin seehra chairman of assocham punjab state council said industrialists do appreciate the efforts made by the punjab government in trying to find a solution to farmers issues they farmers continue to sit on dharnas in front of our business establishments making it impossible for us to operate he added