Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, May 18: After remaining shut due to the imposition of Corona curfew in Kashmir, Valley’s largest mandi at Parimpora was today allowed to operate for 6 hours from 5 in the morning till 11 am.
The move, the traders told Excelsior, will provide them with a window of making some good amid losses as they were not able to supply the goods that used to come from outside the UT further which resulted in huge losses to them.
After the lockdown was imposed, the mandi was allowed to remain operational for few hours, which, the traders said were not enough. However, the district administration at the request of the traders finally allowed them to operate for 6 straight hours.
Bashir Ahmad Bashir, President New Kashmir Fruit Association told Excelsior that on daily basis around 250 truck of fruit and vegetables reach the mandi and it was not possible for them to dispatch the supply or even unload the truck within a gap of just a few hours that was provided to them.
“200-250 trucks reach here every day and earlier it was not possible to operate in a small window that was given to us; we are now operating from 5 am to 11 am with strict adherence to the SOPs and we are thankful to the district administration in this regard,” he said.
The traders and those associated with the sector directly or indirectly including the labours said that the increased time window will allow them to send the supply to the other areas.
“Earlier, the truckers were not even able to unload due to the fewer hours of operation that were provided by the administration,” a trader said.
They said that due to the lockdown, they have faced huge losses and that their condition is not any good.
“We are facing losses for the last 3 years. Everybody associated with the sector has been affected and the things are not good,” the traders said.
The labourers working in the mandi said that they are happy that the mandi has been allowed to operate for 6 hours. “We will also be able to earn our livelihood and for that we are happy,” Ghulam Nabi, a labourer at the Mandi said.
Now that the working hours of the mandi have been increased, the traders have demanded that the same should be increased further.
“We ask the administration to allow the vegetable sellers to operate as essential service and at the same time we demand that we should be allowed to operate till 2 in the afternoon,” Bashir Ahmad Bashir said.
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