NEW DELHI: A day after shops were directed to open only on an odd-even basis, traders across major markets in the city said that the odd-even system of opening shops on weekdays was not a ‘workable solution’. They suggested focusing on crowd management instead.
Traders and shopkeepers of popular and otherwise crowded markets in the city including Sarojini Nagar, Lajpat Nagar, Chandini Chowk, and Sadar Bazaar said their businesses are hit badly because of the odd-even functioning.
The DDMA on Tuesday after a review meeting of the Covid-19 situation in the city directed that shops across city markets would open on an odd-even basis.
“The weekend restrictions are still understandable, given the spike in cases. But odd-even is like a deep dent in whatever was left of the business days. The government’s focus must be on crowd management,” said Atul Bhargava, a store owner in Connaught Place and president of the New Delhi Traders’ Association.
He said they’ve also requested the government to remove illegal hawkers and to manage the crowd.
“The odd-even ordinance is practically irrelevant as it creates more confusion because of not knowing which shop will open when and the possibility of getting infected by the virus is much more because of this,” he explained.
Rajendra Sharda, president, GK-I Market, said that shop owners are the ones who are facing the real loss.
“With the weekend curfew, it has almost killed the business. They should just extend the timings of the opening of shops at least to help traders,” he said.