Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Jan 29: Shops and business establishments remained shut on Saturday as Kashmir observed the weekend lockdown.
The 64- hour- weekend lockdown which began on Friday afternoon, according to officials, is aimed to break the chain and flatten the Covid curve as the cases are rising.
In Srinagar, most of the markets wore a deserted look as people preferred to stay indoors. The transport was also off the roads.
Police had erected barricades at several places to restrict the movement of the public.
A large number of police and central armed police force were deployed in the city to ensure the weekend lockdown which would continue till Monday morning. Lockdown was also observed in other districts of valley.
Meanwhile, the Kashmir Economic Forum (KEF) has asked J&K government to reconsider imposing lockdown and allow economic activities.
In a statement, President KEF Showkat M Chowdhary said the valley's business units have been badly suffering from the previous lockdowns and had hardly started to recover the losses.
"It is not advisable to enforce a lockdown in the Valley. The lockdown decision has also sent an alarm to the travellers as a result of which around 50 percent of the tourist influx has come down since the weekend lockdown was announced. This has impacted the livelihood of many people," said Chowdhary.
Chowdhary said instead of a lockdown, the government should ensure that proper health guidelines are followed.
The KEF has urged LG administration to take into consideration the livelihood of lakhs of people associated with business community before continuing with the lockdown. |
