Traders on Sunday urged the district administration to create awareness about the schedule approved to allow different businesses operate in the city markets.
Kashmir Retailers Association (KRA) said most of the customers were still unaware about the schedule regarding which business units which operate on which days.
“People are confused and have no clear idea about which shops are allowed to function on particular day. The administration must give proper coverage to the schedule in the media,” said Farhan Kitab, President KRA.
Shops and other select businesses opened in the city on June 13 after remaining shut for more than twelve weeks amid COVID19 threat.
The administration has allowed opening of shops and other businesses in Srinagar on rotational basis.
Kitab said that some people have to return disappointed without making any purchases after they found shops dealing in different items closed.
As per the notified schedule, shops including bookshops, stationeries, chemists, medical product shops, grocery, fruit and vegetable shops, shops dealing in milk and milk products, meat, poultry, farming product shops, workshops, e-commerce and courier agencies, hotels, restaurants for home-delivery, take-away, bakery and other shops are allowed to remain open for full day from Monday to Saturday.
But business establishments dealing in readymade garments, cloth, cosmetics, footwear, electronics and electrical equipment, jewellery, tailors, designers and boutiques are allowed to open from 11 am to 5.30 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Similarly, there are separate schedule for other business establishments.
Kitab said the district administration must give these schedules a wide publicity through media. He also appealed to authorities for providing hand sanitizers to traders on subsidized rates.
“It is mandatory for us to keep hand sanitizers for customers. A single bottle of sanitizer costs Rs 250 and it lasts for a day. Irrespective of whether customers make any purchases or not, we keep sanitizer for use under standard operation procedure,” he said.
KRA Vice President, Din Muhammad Mattu said authorities must also take necessary measures for facelift of commercial hub Lal Chowk.
“Sufficient dustbins must be placed on the designated places. Footpaths must be repaired and given facelift. This is a commercial hub of summer capital. Its beauty and infrastructure must be at par with other capital cities,” he said.
He said the street lights installed by the Power Development Department were defunct since 2014 and need to be repaired.