Srinagar: The Joint Coordination Committee of City Center Traders has appealed the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to opt for unlock as otherwise many would be left to starvation.

In a statement, President Kashmir Retailers Association and General Secretary JCCCC Farhan Kitab said the lockdown has badly affected livelihood of people who along with their families are at the verge of starvation.

He said from traders to transporters, the business community is badly affected especially for the city centre shopkeepers.

Kitab said let the government call a joint meeting of stakeholders and medical health experts to decide about the protocol for the unlock.

He extended full support to the adherence of such prospective protocol of SOPs as would be set by the government.

Kitab also sought relief package for traders community and said the process should start with amnesty on payment of service bills like electricity, sanitation, special extension of the statutory dates of GST, exemption of interest and penalty for not filing the return by the statutory date and six month moratorium on bank interest and EMI without interest.

Reader correspondent