There are 170 textile trading markets which house over 65,000 shops — the hub of Man Made Fibre (MMF) in the country.(Representational Image)

The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has asked textile traders to sing Vande Mataram while opening their shops, and the national anthem when closing them, in the guidelines issued on Saturday for reopening the textile trading markets in the city which became Covid-19 clusters.

The guidelines signed by the town planner of the SMC for containing the spread of the Covid 19 pandemic, also asks the employees and workers to shout “motivational slogans” like “haarse corona jeetse Surat (corona will lose, Surat will win)” and, “ek lakshya humara hai corona ko harana hai (we have only one target, we have to defeat corona)”, “as part of the daily drill”.

The traders have also been asked to take a pledge that goes: “I will follow all the guidelines to contain the pandemic, laid down by the government, and adopt all safety measures and do my bit to prevent spread of the pandemic.”

The guidelines were issued following meetings with Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Jayanti Ravi, who has been camping in Surat for over a week, SMC officials and members of the Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA).

The city saw a spike in Covid-19 cases since June 29 with most of them being reported from the diamond and textile business clusters.

Surat Municipal Commissioner B N Pani said, “Singing Vande Mataram while opening the shops and Jana Gana Mana while closing the shops is a war cry to create bonding with the nation and fight the Covid-19 pandemic.”

There are 170 textile trading markets which house over 65,000 shops — the hub of Man Made Fibre (MMF) in the country. The textile markets will open in an odd-even manner from Monday onwards, from 10 am to 5 pm with strict adherence to the guidelines.

The shops have been asked to install foot-operated wash basins outside their stores, wear masks and sanitise the common areas and bathrooms twice daily with sodium hypochlorite solution. CCTV cameras have to be installed in the entire market place and remain functional at all times.

As many as 6,727 positive cases and 267 deaths have been reported in Surat city so far. According to the health department officials, over 600 diamond polishers and over 300 textile traders had tested positive.