Traders and business community in Karachi has demanded government to relax its COVID-19 restrictions and allowing shops, businesses to operate till 8 pm.
Karachi Tajir Action Committee has urged Sindh government to allow business, trade activities to resume till 8 pm as the business community, traders have been badly hit due to economic and financial repercussions of prevailing COVID-19 restrictions in the metropolis.
Furthermore, traders have also demanded the government to allow shops, markets to be opened on Saturdays.
Sindh government and NCOC are ignoring us, said Atiq Mir a prominent businessman.
Meanwhile, businessman Sharjeel Goplani has accused district administration of blackmailing, bribe and exploiting traders and business community under the pretext of COVID-19 SOPs violations.
The committee has warned of strict actions if their demands are not met within 72 hours.
The development comes as Sindh government has extended its COVID-19 restrictions in Karachi due to high positivity rate and COVID-19 cases in the metropolis.
As per the COVID-19 restrictions;
- Business hours will now be from 5am to 6pm, except for essential services.
- Bakeries and milk shops are allowed to operate till midnight.
- Pharmacies inside shopping malls will close at 6pm, along with other shops.
- Fridays and Sundays to be off days for businesses, except for Hyderabad, where Fridays and Saturdays will be the designated off days.
- All outdoor and indoor dining is henceforth barred; takeaway, drive through and delivery services to continue.
- Public transport — inter-city, intra-city and inter-provincial — allowed with 50% occupancy, strict observance of SOPs.
With Karachi being the epicenter, Sindh’s COVID-19 tally stands at 318,579 cases with 5,039 deaths so far, whereas a total of 287,728 people have successfully recovered from the novel virus in the province.
