Karachi:Shops owners will now be able to resume their businesses from Monday after they have been given a go-ahead by the government officials to resume their online deliveries after a meeting took place at Commissioner House on Thursday.
Different business communities have been putting pressure on government to let them resume their business as they and their workers struggle to make ends meet. As a precautionary move in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sindh Government has taken stringent lockdown measures in Karachi as industry and markets have mostly been told to keep their operations shut except grocery, milk and vegetable shops, which have also been told to operate for limited time period from 8:00am in the morning to 5:00pm.
However, with each day passing, the pressure has been increasing and the Sindh Government has started to ease some of the lockdown measures and gradually lockdown measures have been eased for some industries. Small traders have also been putting pressure on government to let them start their businesses by following certain SOPs that would reduce chance of possible spread of the virus.
The government and small traders have apparently reached a consensus on Thursday as they have been partially allowed to resume their businesses – resume their online services and delivery of goods. Apart from Commissioner Karachi, provincial ministers Nasir Hussain Shah, Saeed Ghani, Imtiaz Sheikh and Murtaza Wahab were also present in the meeting.
The shops have been allowed to open from Monday between 9:00am and 3:00pm hours but only to procure and pick goods to deliver at houses and not to deal customers inside the shops. Jameel Paracha, Sharjeel Gopalani, Rizwan Irfan, Saleem Memon, Ilyas Memon, Hakeem Shah and Habib Sheikh represented small traders in the meeting. “Traders and Sindh Government have now reached a consensus,” said Sharjeel Gopalani after the meeting.