An important meeting on COVID-19 situation was held at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday.
According to an official of NCOC, during this second meeting of NCOC in Ramazan, the forum reviewed implementation of Ramazan guidelines, SME package, health situation and data integration.
Interior Minister Brig (r) Ijaz Ahmed Shah informed the NCOC meeting that population in urban areas needed to be continuously educated to follow guidelines and not operate business as usual during Ramazan. He said population in villages was observing guidelines, which was encouraging.
He said that political leadership, particularly at district and union council levels, had the most important role to educate the masses for public safety and wellbeing. Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said that provinces may be asked to give feedback on compliance by people on Ramazan guidelines. The forum dilated upon health situation and future course of action basing on likely projections.
Meanwhile, Sindh Tajir Ittehad Chairman Jameel Paracha said that they were even ready to open shops in the city for at least two hours as resuming businesses without opening the shutter was not possible.
“Retailers could not conduct businesses online,” he said, adding that they have conveyed their grievance to the provincial ministerial committee dealing with the matter. He said that Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah had assured them to resume retail businesses in a couple of days. However, Jameel Paracha said that it had come to their notice that the business would not be allowed to resume before April 30.
The trader said that it has been more than a month since they have been cooperating with the provincial government during the lockdown; however, the situation has worsened due to the ongoing shutdown. “The small traders could not bear more losses,” he said, and demanded of the federal and provincial governments to provide interest-free loans to them. He blamed the authorities for adopting a discriminatory behaviour with traders in Karachi and claimed that businesses in other parts of the province, including Hyderabad, were running in a usual manner.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Sindh government on Saturday allowed resumption of business activities in the province with strict conditions attached during the coronavirus lockdown.
According to a notification issued by the Sindh Home Ministry, the traders have to completely implement the standard operating procedures devised for online shutter down business.
A prior list of the shop owners, staffers and delivery boys working at the business place should be provided to the provincial government, while all preventive material, including gloves and sanitisers be provided to them.
No customer dealing would be allowed at the shops and only online orders would be entertained for the purpose. The shutter of the shops will remain close all the time except for the delivery of items, according to the guidelines. The order will come into effect from April 27 for an indefinite period and the shop owners had to give an undertaking for fully implementing the SOPs.
