Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 8: Shopkeepers in city centre Lal Chowk today demanded that they should be allowed to open their shops and carry out their business which they have not been able to do since the imposition of lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19.
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Scores of shopkeepers had this morning reached the city centre to open their shops, however, the police reached the spot stopped them from doing so, saying that they have not received any information from the administration to allow the opening of shops.
“At around 9 in the morning, I reached here to open my shop; few shops were already open while as others were closed, while we also tried to open the shops, the police did not allow us,” Hilal Ahmad, a shopkeeper told Excelsior.
He said that people were expecting that they will be allowed to open up their shops on June 8; however, police categorically told them not to do so without the administration allowing it.
Another shopkeeper said that the pandemic is an issue which is being faced by the entire world, but things are being eased everywhere, even in the rest of the country.
“While that’s happening elsewhere, the situation here in Kashmir appears to be different-there is indecisiveness and nobody is taking any cognizance of losses that we have been suffering even before this,” the shopkeeper said.
They said that while the shops and other businesses were up and running elsewhere in the city, the shopkeepers, particularly in Lal Chowk were not allowed to do their work for the day on Monday.
The shopkeepers also said that there is a quarantine facility set up by the district administration in heart of the city and that they want it to be shifted to some other place.
“The Govt has to understand our sufferings and if they don’t want to allow us to open, then they should compensate us accordingly, because we cannot continue like this forever; we have to feed our families, which we are not able to do at this point of time,” the shopkeepers said.
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