Festive spirit eludes Valley’s Eid celebrations this time
SRINAGAR: In a stark contrast to the usual hustle-bustle, Kashmiris are spending this Eid with less fervour, owing to the Covid-19 lockdown.
A day prior to the festival, most streets and markets bore a sombre look. Some footfall was witnessed around select shops that had permission to sell Eid related items. However, officials were on watch to ensure lockdown norms were maintained. They even sealed some shops where violations were noticed.
Sheikh Ashiq from Kashmir Chamber of Commerce Federation and Industries said Eid used to involve big business activity in Kashmir. “Traders used to get various items in bulk and sales ran between ₹300 and ₹ 500 crore,” he said adding that it used to be a huge stimulus for businessmen and now they have nothing but vast losses.
“Ahead of Eid, shopping used to pick up across Kashmir and the business would run into hundreds of crores of rupees at times, as every household would make purchases. This time, people were buying only essential items,” said Wajhat Ahmad.
There was a comparable surge in traffic, but most of the shops were closed with the exception of a few grocers, bakers and confectioners.
“Only 10 percent of the people are shopping in the markets. With closure of many markets, people prefer to limit shopping to their neighbourhoods,” said Abdul Gaffar, who owns a confectionery shop at Lal Chowk, Srinagar.
Many bakeries, which otherwise did business of lakhs of rupees during Eid, remained shut. “Our staff has gone home and there was no demand for bakery items so we didn’t open,” said the manager of a bakery house on Residency Road.
Meanwhile, over 50 stores and 80 vehicle-owners were booked for violating lockdown norms during an inspection by district magistrate (DM) Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary.
The DM inspected markets at several places, including Sanantnagar, Hyderpora, Chhanpora, Bagh-e-Mehtab, Jawahar Nagar, south city and Batmalloo.
“During the inspection, it was found that a large number of nonessential and non-permitted shops like readymade garments, furniture, hardware, and others were operating illegally,” a senior officer of Srinagar district administration said.
NO FOOTFALL IN MALERKOTLA MARKET AHEAD OF EID
SANGRUR: Despite it being the month of Ramadan, the markets of Muslim-dominated Malerkotla town in district are witnessing low footfall due to lockdown.
Also, it is yet to be declared whether Eid will be celebrated on Sunday or Monday. Shopkeepers are upset as they are unable to find customers and are bearing losses.
“Customers are also facing economic crisis due to lockdown. Despite it being just a day before Eid, the markets have barely any footfall. This has never happened in the past many decades,” shopkeepers said.
Malerkotla SDM Vikramjeet Singh Panthey appealed to people to avoid assemblies at mosques and instead perform prayers at home.
(With input from Avtar Singh in Sangrur)