Sindh govt, traders negotiate to resume businesses in Karachi

KARACHI: Trade organisations on Thursday put forwarded two demands before the Sindh government including allowing them to operate their shops for few hours in the city as they suffer from losses due to coronavirus lockdown, ARY NEWS reported.

A meeting of the traders and the Sindh government representatives was held today at Sindh Secretariat with the latter represented by Education Minister Saeed Ghani, Commisisoner Karachi Iftikhar Shallwani and AIG Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon.

Other than asking to reopen shops for few hours in a day, the traders also demanded the provincial government to allow them to sale their products using online platforms.

Saeed Ghani who was leading the talks from the government side assured the traders of looking into their matters and said that a final decision would be made by Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah tomorrow during a meeting between the two sides.

The traders during the meeting said that there should be a SOP to operate shops for four to six hours. “We know the gravity of the situation, however, we are also in trouble after losing most of our cash due to ongoing closure,” they said and demanded the government to waive off tax if it was not willing to open the shops.

Earlier, Spokesman of the Sindh government Murtaza Wahab on Thursday said that neither the federal nor the provincial government has allowed barbers, tailors, sanitary and other shops to operate during COVID-19 lockdown.

Giving a clarity of what would remain open during the lockdown in a video message, Murtaza Wahab said that the announcement from Prime Minister Imran Khan gave an impression that the lockdown was over.

“Any impression of easing or completely lifting lockdown in Sindh was baseless and the Chief Minister [Murad Ali Shah] has made it clear yesterday that it will going to be stricter,” he said.

The spokesman said that they have allowed construction and exports industry to operate on the premier’s directives.