Traders helpless before customers not following SOPs

Rawalpindi : The traders and shopkeepers now literally feel helpless before the customers who now in no way ready to follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) introduced by the government to combat coronavirus outbreak.

Most of the customers are not observing SOPs even in prominent business centres and well-reputed pharmacies where in the recent past no one was even allowed without wearing a facemask.

There was a time some months back when these businesses centres deployed additional staffers with thermal scanners to check body temperature of customers at the entry points.

The customers were allowed in small groups to enter the shops but now no such thing is happening in most of these business and trade centres.

When asked, the owner of a pharmacy in Rawalpindi said, “We implemented SOPs in letter and spirit but with the passage of time the customers started behaving differently due to rising impression that coronavirus pandemic was going to end."

He said: “Now we are actually helpless because the customers with few exceptions are not ready to follow SOPs and we have no way to force them to do so.”

It is pertinent to mention here that all the shopkeepers in the city have displayed clear notices at their entry doors in which the customers are informed that they cannot enter the shop without a facemask.

The prominent stores in Commercial Market (Satellite Town) where customers were only allowed under restrictions like wearing a facemask and observing social distance has also become ‘free fields’ for them.

Nadeem Iqbal, a customer at Saddar Market, said, “It is really fortunate that Pakistan has been successfully combating the coronavirus pandemic. But there is a need to observe SOPs to avoid any untoward situation in the future.”