J&K pushes traders to reopen markets

Srinagar: Twenty-two days on, and the marketplaces in Srinagar and other parts of the Kashmir Valley still remain shut. Even in areas where security restrictions were lifted in a phased manner about a week ago, only few shops — mainly groceries and pharmacies — are now open, selectively and infrequently. More private cars, however, could be seen playing on select roads of the Valley on Monday.

There is no call for a shutdown from any separatist or mainstream leader or party. Worried over the spontaneous “strike” over the abrogation of J&K’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and splitting the state into two Union territories, the authorities are now using both carrot and stick to ensure that the Valley’s main marketplaces are open. The thrust area of their efforts is Srinagar’s historic city centre, Lal Chowk, and its neighbourhood.

Over the weekend, a senior police official visited the Makkah Market, a flea market in the Lal Chowk area, to meet a group of vendors to persuade them to return to work. The official promised them registration of their kiosks with the concerned department “within four days”, besides some other incentives. Iqbal Ahmed (named changed), a vendor, said that he and others were earlier offered cash assistance by another official to “compensate” for the losses suffered by them due to the lockdown if they resume work.

The authorities are emulating what the PDP-BJP government had done in 2016 to break the nearly five-month-long separatist-sponsored shutdown after the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani.

Syed Altaf Bukhari, a senior PDP leader and minister, had then successfully swayed the pavement-dwellers operating from Lal Chowk and its neighbourhood to resume work by offering certain incentives. He had also promised that they would not be evicted from the footpaths and causeways that they occupy in violation of municipal and traffic laws until an alternative was made for them to carry out their businesses. The reopening of flea markets in and around Lal Chowk had set a trend in Srinagar’s business community to go back to work.

This time, the authorities have so far succeeded in seeing a dozen pavement-dwellers spreading their merchandise on a walkway opposite Sher-i-Kashmir Municipal Park along Srinagar’s Residency Road. In peaceful times, this area becomes the hub of an open market on Sundays.

The authorities have also approached those traders of Residency Road and other Srinagar areas who operate from premises owned by the state’s estates department. As claimed by one of the tenants, they were asked to open their establishments or “face the consequences”, that could also be immediate recovery of outstanding rental fees and review of rent deeds. A senior estates department official confirmed that contact with some shopkeepers had been made, but only to persuade them to reopen their establishments. “They were requested to reopen their shops. No one has been threatened,” he said.

Meanwhile, fruit sellers who would in the past 10 days set up kiosks on the rim of the main road and some street corners in Srinagar’s Dal Gate area have relocated to the stretch of road running parallel to the Kashmir Golf Club just across Maulana Azad Bridge to carry out their activities.

Likewise, acting on “advice” from local residents, over a dozen pharmacies located on the two sides of the road outside the government-run Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital in Srinagar’s Rainawari area are now open only by rotation.

However, parts of Srinagar witnessed an increased movement of private vehicles on Monday. Some shops at places were also open. Fuel stations were working normally in some of the city areas, including Hyderpora, Bemina, Nowgam, Snowar, Durga Nag, Pantha Chowk-Athwajan and some other quarters. The authorities, however, seem desperate to see the marketplaces in Lal Chowk and its neighbourhood opened as that may not only be touted by them as a sign of return of normality, but could also set a trend among the traders’ community elsewhere.