In the wake of spike in COVID-19 cases in Indore, traders in several markets have decided to voluntarily close their shops on Saturday and Sunday while on weekdays their shops will remain open till 6 pm in the evening.
As many as 50 business associations, which have 20,000 shops under them, have given their acceptance to the decision. This includes shops in the cloth market, kirana bazaar, hardware and iron shops and the electronic market. All of them combined are the biggest market in Madhya Pradesh and lakhs of people visit these wholesale markets from various cities.
Mohammad Riyaz Gazi of Bharti Traders said, "In Indore, positive cases are increasing day by day, so business associations in Indore have met the administration and decided that they will close business on Saturday and Sunday. It is also decided to close regular markets by 6 pm which were earlier open till 8 pm." Dheeraj Khandelwal, vice president Siyaganj Wholesale Kirana Merchant Association, said, "The way cases are increasing in Indore we have decided to close regular markets on Saturday and Sunday, while on other days the shops will remain open from 10 am to 6 pm." According to Indore COVID bulletin, on 25 September, 445 new cases of COVID-19 were reported from Indore, while seven people died. Till date, the total number of cases is 22,129. The death toll is at 538.
Nodal Officer COVID-19 Indore, Dr Amit Malakar said, "The positivity rate has increased for some days. People have interacted and this has caused people to become negligent as they are not following social distancing and wearing masks." When asked about the decision of several traders to close markets on Saturday and Sunday, Dr Malakar said, "We welcome such initiatives as it is equally important to take precautions while doing economic activities."
