Saturday closure of markets turns out to be a flop

| | Dehradun
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Saturday closure of markets turns out to be a flop

Sunday, 20 September 2020 | PNS | Dehradun

Most of the shops in the city were open on Saturday despite the decision of Doon Udyog Vyapar Mandal (DUVM) to keep the shops closed in main marketplaces in Dehradun for the next three Saturdays apparently to lessen the threat of Covid-19. According to the shopkeepers, every shopkeeper is going through a financial crisis and shutting down shops for even a single day can cost them a lot.

“We never supported the decision of closing shops on weekends, especially on Saturdays. The market has been remaining closed on Sundays for months now so people have started to do shopping on Saturday evenings. Of course, locals still do not shop like the pre-covid times but Saturday is still a good day to earn some extra bucks than the weekdays,” said Rehman Ansari, a shopkeeper in Paltan Bazaar.

Many also stated that they cannot consider closing their shops because their livelihood depends on the earnings of every day and still some rich businessmen are trying to impose their decisions on them without thinking about the consequences of such decisions on their lives. “We got the message on Friday from some fellow businessmen that the shopkeepers should keep their shops closed if they want to do a good business during festive seasons ahead by presently contributing to minimise the risk of Covid-19 contagion. I do not support such weekend shutdowns to curb this virus. Such shutdowns will hardly decrease the rate of the disease but it will surely kill the hope of earning better on weekends. I will not close my shop under the influence of some rich businessmen who do not even know about our situation,” said Kamal Pratap Singh, a Saree store owner in Tehsil Chowk.

Though most of the shopkeepers did not close their shops on Saturday, they complained that the decision of DUVM made many locals think that all the shops will remain closed on Saturday due to which they had to face loss. “We opened our shops but the crowd in the market was very less than the other days. This confusion regarding weekend shutdown made people think that the market will be closed on weekends. I only earned about Rs 250 which is not even a one-day salary of my salesman. It is ridiculous how the ideas of some rich businessmen affected the business of the whole market,” stated Singh.

Meanwhile, the president of Doon Valley Mahanagar Udyog Vyapar Mandal (DVMUVM), Pankaj Masson said that the plan of DUVM to keep the marketplaces closed on Saturday turned out to be failure for them as even those shopkeepers who were associated with their association opened the shops. “We knew that such shutdowns would never work without the government’s order. The shopkeepers also proved this Saturday that they will not be forced by some selected businessmen to run their shops as per other’s terms. I am sure the next time, every association will consider the welfare of small shopkeepers too while making any decisions that may directly or indirectly affect them,” added Masson.

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