KARACHI: Various traders and businesspeople in the metropolis have demanded the Sindh government to allow their business operations from 10am to 8pm after new restrictions were announced by the government to curb the rising coronavirus cases.
The provincial government had restricted markets and business center opening hours to 6:00am to 6:00pm on weekdays and ordered it to remain shut on weekends.
The development was announced by the Karachi Electronics Dealers Association, Sindh Tajir Ittehad, and other traders’ bodies of the metropolis during a joint press conference today (Thursday).
On the occasion, Sindh Tajir Ittehad Chairperson Jameel Paracha said “We have unanimously decided that shops will close at 8pm, not before,” adding that the shopkeepers will not keep shops shut on Fridays, as is the new rule.
The local traders also warned they would stage sit-ins outside the markets if the new coronavirus measures were imposed without their input. “If we are forced to do so, we will hold sit-ins outside the markets,” Paracha reiterated.
“Many businesses were forced to shut down during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic and the torrential rains,” he added, appealing to the Sindh government to have mercy on the traders.
During the press conference, KEDA President Muhammad Rizwan Irfan stated their markets typically neither opened at 6am nor could be. “These are no dairy farmers or meat traders,” he asserted.
Muhammad Irfan further said the traders’ bodies had tried to hold talks with the government of Sindh, as well as the Karachi administration, but did not get a response. “We demand that business hours be fixed from 10am to 8pm,” the KEDA official stated.
