Traders upset over non-essential shops not allowed to open on Sunday

Ludhiana: Citing no improvement in their sales during weekdays, city traders are upset over the state government not allowing opening of the non-essential shops on Sunday. According to the traders, the government must reconsider its decision and allow them to open their shops on Sunday at least for half day. Businessmen are also of the view that the government must also extend the closing hours for the shops on weekdays by one hour.
Speaking on the issue, Gurdeep Singh Gosha, president of the Business Bachao Morcha, said, “There are lakhs of shopkeepers in the city who are dealing in goods which fall under the non-essential category and hundreds of such shopkeepers and traders are our members and all of them are reporting very low sales and no improvement during weekdays. This is due to the fact that the majority of the customers are free only on Sunday to go out of their homes and shop for non-essentials like clothes, electronic goods, shoes, etc. But Punjab government without studying the ground realities has banned non-essential shops from opening on Sunday. This is proving to be a great setback for the traders fraternity and losses of the businessmen are piling and soon we will see permanent closures of several shops and establishments in Ludhiana just because of this Sunday lockdown.”
According to Sunil Mehra, chairman of the morcha, “What has the government achieved by the Sunday lockdown as there has been no reduction in the cases of corona and in fact they are on the rise drastically. Keeping Sunday as mandatory off for non-essential shops has hurt every single businessmen and not only caused losses to us but has also impacted the livelihood of the workers and other persons attached with us. Government must reconsider its decision at the earliest.”
Vinod Jain, general secretary of BBM, said, “Sunday lockdown has turned out to be our worst nightmare as this was the only day for the shops in all areas when we were able to do brisk business as compared to weekdays. Moreover, considering the current situation when there are other restrictions like closing shops by 8pm daily and no movement of people allowed beyond 10pm, the sales on weekdays are very disappointing. Along with increasing the operating hours beyond 8pm on weekdays, lifting ban on opening non-essential shops on Sundays is need of the hour.”