LAHORE:The retail sector has demanded the Punjab government withdraw its new notification of reducing the business hours following the spread of new UK-variant COVID-19 strain.
The Punjab government, in a new order, has reduced the business hours in the seven districts of province including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Gujrat as a preventive measure against the spread of new variant of COVID-19 in province.
The Chainstore Association of Pakistan (CAP), representative body of the registered retail sector cooperating with the Federal Board of Revenue for expansion of the tax base, is in shock with the Punjab government decision of reducing the business hours which could increase the spread of pandemic rather to decrease.
Chairman CAP Tariq Mehboob Monday observed that the Punjab government decision to ban commercial activities was against the NCOC guidelines and World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommendations and guidelines to control the pandemic. The retail sector has implemented all orders and SOPs issued by the government in recent past and it is incomprehensible that why retailers are being pushed to the wall when they are completely following the SOPs. The business has already been in a revival phase due to last year’s government lockdown sanctions.
“The Chainstore sector probably only one sector which is following the COVID-19 SOPs in letter and spirit. The CAP members have already fully cooperated with the government in the corona situation and also distributed millions of free of cost masks to the public and the customers during the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tariq stated that the supply chain was already affected due to government’s ill-motivated policies and stocks worth billions of rupees could not be brought to the market for sale on time. He said the businesses were already crippled due to last year lockdown will further ruined if the government adopts the same approach again.
The CAP demanded that the government should review its decision and immediately restore the previous working hours to save the businesses. All shopping malls and markets should be free to do business seven days of week from 10:00 am to 11:00 pm to improve country's chaotic economy and help to overcome rapidly rising unemployment.