HYDERABAD: President of the Hyderabad Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industry has strongly reacted to further restrictions imposed by the Sindh government under recommendation of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to contain spread of the coronavirus.

Saleemuddin Qureshi was talking to different trade bodies’ representatives at the chamber on Wednesday.

It was not justified to “trouble” traders on the pretext of the coronavirus spread, he said, adding that policies of the NCOC and Sindh government were causing economic losses to the country and traders.

He said that traders had always respected government policies, but they had lost tolerance and capacity to face them.

He said traders were affected psychologically by the policies. Despite vaccination of millions of people, higher positivity ratio claims by the NCOC and Sindh government were not understandable, he said.

Mr Qureshi demanded that wedding halls should be allowed to do their business in line with government’s recommended SOPs. Many workers had been rendered jobless due to closure of wedding halls, he added.

He urged Prime Minister Imran Khan, NCOC head Asad Umar and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to increase business timings and avoid those decisions that were causing unrest among traders.

He said the policies that were not beneficial to the country and traders should also be avoided. He asked the traders to get themselves vaccinated as soon as possible and use masks and sanitizers.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2021