Palanpur: Concerned over the rising cases of Covid-19, traders in Himmatnagar and Idar town have voluntarily decided to down their shutters early for the next two weeks. The traders will shut their shops by 4 pm from Thursday in both Idar and Himmatnagar.
The decision came after a joint meeting of Sabarkantha district collector C J Patel with the traders, municipal president and the local MLA on Thursday. Patel said that the traders decided to shut their shops early on their own due to fear of rise in Covid cases. While traders in Idar will observe the early shutdown till December 9, those in Himmatnagar have decided to close shops by 4 pm till December 10.
“The trade associations in Idar had earlier observed a complete shutdown for a week to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread further,” said Kisan Soni, one of the traders in Idar.
“Lot of customers from adjacent villages flock our town and hence the risk of Covid-19 infection increases manifold. So it was decided to reduce the shop timings and to reduce contact with people,” said Naresh Desai, president, Choksi Association, Idar. As per the official figures, Sabarkantha has so far tested 1,443 Covid positive cases including 12 deaths of which 276 positive cases and two deaths are from Idar.