Open shops at 6am and close at 10:30pm, or face consequences, order Kokernag municipal authorities

Open shops at 6am and close at 10:30pm, or face consequences, order Kokernag municipal authorities
  • Illogical, bizarre diktat: Traders   
  • Asked them to revoke the order: Director Urban Local Bodies

Anantnag: Municipal authorities in Kokernag area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district have asked shopkeepers to keep their shops open for more than sixteen hours or face “consequences” in the face of any deviation from the order.
Shopkeepers have been asked to open at 6 AM and close at 10:30 PM.
This is the first time ever such an order has been issued in Kashmir and the traders of the area are calling it an “illogical diktat, to say the least”.
President of the Municipal Committee in Kokernag ensured announcements were made through a vehicle, mounted with a Public Address System. Employees of the Committee were seen making these announcements in certain parts of the town this afternoon.
“The shopkeepers of this town are ordered to keep their shops open between 6:00 AM and 10:30 PM. Anyone found violating the orders will be taken action against,” the employees could be heard saying, “This is by order of the President Municipal Committee,”
A video of the announcement was also shared over social media, with netizens expressing amusement at the diktat.
Traders in Kokernag town, Kashmir Reader talked to, said that they were still trying to figure out what the order was all about. “We are not government employees. We are businessmen and will open and shut our shops as we please. How can the administration dictate such things?” the shopkeepers asked.
They said that the administration was meddling in affairs far beyond their jurisdiction and completely unnecessary. “They can dictate if shops should be kept closed or open on a Sunday, beyond that they should have no say in our affairs. We pay taxes and that should be about it,” the traders said.
Director Urban Local Bodies, Mathoora Masoom, who acknowledged that the order did not make any sense said, “I have talked to concerned people there and have asked them to immediately revoke the order.”
She said that it was not the business of the administration to dictate to shopkeepers on when to open and when to close. “They can open and close according to their own will. The only jurisdiction the administration has is to ensure that the shops are closed on a Sunday,” she told Kashmir Reader.

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.