Srinagar: Three days it has been since market reopened in Kashmir, but business in Srinagar is as slack as ever. Muhammad Yaseen Khan, president of Kashmir Traders Manufactures Federation (KTMF), told Kashmir Reader that for businessmen across the Valley, which include traders and shopkeepers, the day’s earnings are almost nil, with hardly a customer visiting them.
“My colleagues across the valley told me that though markets have opened, there is no business. For us, it seems, the entire structure of business has collapsed,” Yaseen rued.
“It is really difficult to imagine how we are going to survive,” he added.
Except eatables and essentials, all other sorts of business are down and out. This is because people have lost their purchasing power, Yaseen said.
Since August last year, the Kashmir economy has been mostly shut, first due to a military lockdown that lasted almost eight months, and then the corona lockdown that followed at its heels. Some of the major sectors like tourism and services have not done any business for a year now. Agriculture and industries are also badly hit. The slow internet speed has scuttled all businesses that depended on the internet.
Yaseen said that until the government infuses capital in the market, an unfulfilled demand of industry for a long time, the situation by and large will remain the same.
“We don’t know when the government will again impose the lockdown. But even that uncertainty is not making the customer buy more, which indicates their empty pockets,” Yaseen said.
Gulzar Ahmad, a trader of textiles in the city centre, said that all sources of revenue are shut for a long time. The government has not even paid contractors for many months, he said.
“It used to be exports or contracts that brought money into the market, but none of those are doing well. Government employees, who can spend even in this situation, are keeping a tight fist. So, infusion of capital is a must,” Ahmad said.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz