Traders demand to open business for six days instead of four

KARACHI/LAHORE (92 News) – Traders demanded the government to open business activities for six days instead of four days. All Karachi Tajir Ittehad Chairman Atiq Mir demanded of the Sindh government to allow businesses to stay open until midnight after Iftar from Monday. In a statement, he said the government should allow markets to remain open after iftar till Chand Raat. Traders will open their shops under standard operating procedures (SOPs) after Iftar even if they are not granted permission, he announced. Qasim Siraj Teli urged the government to ease lockdown restrictions for a week from Monday until Saturday. He said coronavirus has become part of life and will not go away, adding traders cannot keep their businesses shut forever. He stressed the need for working out ways and means to allow businesses to operate amid the pandemic. On the other hand, Anjuman-e-Tajran Lahore President Mujahid Butt said that the government should allow markets to stay open till midnight. He also said that it is responsibility of government to stop families for taking their children in the markets. Punjab Industries and Commerce Minister Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal said shopkeepers will have to wear masks and use hand sanitiser besides checking customers’ temperatures with a thermal gun at mall entrances.