More procedural hiccups: No resumption of online business in Karachi despite following SOPs

KARACHI: The online trading could not begin on Monday on account of procedural requirement asking those interested to apply for permission to the commissioner Karachi through an e mail.

The commissioner Karachi, Iftikhar Shallwani, directed traders willing to continue their operations online, to get permission from the district administration through email.

According to an announcement from the commissioner office, shopkeepers willing to work online must e mail their application along with an undertaking to commissionerkarachi@gmail.com .The undertaking should mention that they will abide by all the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of the government. The commissioner has asked the interested shopkeepers that they are not supposed to visit the office for permission as the same will be given through e mail from his office. The commissioner instructed them to display the permission. This is mandatory so we could gather data of online traders.

Shalwani directed all the shopkeepers and traders willing to continue their online businesses to strictly follow the SOPs issued by the Sindh government. “They are only allowed to operate businesses by keeping shutter of their shops down,” he said and stressed that no one should keep the shutters of the shops open and only one person is allowed to work inside a shop for online trading.

In another statement the commissioner said that the shutters of the shops have to remain down as only online business is allowed. “The shopkeepers need to adopt social distancing,” he said.

Speaking to The News Assistant Commissioner of Saddar Town, the Commissioner Karachi said that a large number of traders had gathered at the Saddar market out of confusion. The Home Department, he said only allowed online trading, but even shopkeepers whose business involve physical presence of customers also opened their shops in Saddar. However, they later dispersed after negotiations.