KARACHI: Lack of law implementation encourages the city’s retail businesses to stay arbitrarily open till midnight, which increases the electricity consumption by 20 percent, traders said on Friday.

Markets in the city’s residential areas housing retail businesses like milk and teashops, food suppliers and restaurants, medical and general stores remain open after 11p.m, they said.

Citing the Sindh Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 2015, the traders said that retail stores should close down by 8p.m, besides owners are also required to display the opening and closing time on a board for customers’ awareness.

But, they blamed the Sindh government for not enforcing the law on a permanent basis, which according to them, encourages the business owners to continue sales till late hours.

“An average closing hour for the retail stores is 9p.m, but normally it is not followed by the owners,” Muhammad Atiq Mir, Chairman All Karachi Tajir Ittehad told Business Recorder.

He said that the government and traders can reach an agreement on the opening and closing hours of businesses, since the Shops Act does have a single clause to force the owners to resume their sales on a specific time in the morning.

“At present, opening of shops in the morning is totally on a volunteer basis,” he said adding that the government may take help from religious scholars to seek a solution in this regard.

He ruled out that any coercive measures by the government will work to force the owners to open their shops early, for example at 9am.

It is not confined to one locality where shops remain open till late hours, he said adding that the culture of staying out till midnight is now common across the city.

Restaurants, teashops, milk sellers, medical and general stores and ice-cream parlours, are the retail businesses, which provide the customers with services till midnight, he said.

He estimated that the electricity consumption can be reduced if shops are closed at 8p.m. “It will also help reduce electricity consumption by 50 percent in peak hours from 6p.m till 10p.m,” he added.

Early closures of shops, he said, will also help scale down power cuts in the city and oil import meant for the electricity generation.

However, Atiq Mir also termed the poor law and order as one of the reasons stopping the opening of shops in the morning.

“In the past, efforts were made to resume trade activities in early hours of the day, but an armed robbery spoiled them,” the traders’ leader said.

He recalled that several years ago some shops were looted in the morning hours in Arambagh Market, which discouraged the owners to resume trade early.

When traders tried to file a complaint with the police, they refused to provide the needed security to shops citing that the department lacks personnel, he said.

Now, he said, this is an important matter, which the government has to solve to improve security for shops also in early hours of the day.

Hiring a private security guard costs at least Rs30000 a month, which cannot be viable financially for shops owners, he said, adding that soaring inflation has changed the customers spending priorities more towards savings, leaving less for traders to earn with a high cost of business.

There are several retail businesses which close earlier including automobile parts, wood, furniture, iron, steel, stationary, books, electronics and garments. However, barbershops, bakery and milk sellers remain open for late hours, he said that grocery stores close down before 9pm.

A skilled labour is paid up to Rs25,000 a month and the unskilled one is given between Rs15,000 and Rs20,000, he said adding that the owners also pay some overtime for retaining them till late hours.

“The law is violated to keep shops open after the official closing time,” Mehmood Hamid, President, Organization of all Pakistan Small Traders and Cottage Industry said, adding that the government has failed to evolve a code of conduct for shops.

He criticized the government for not having a clear intention to implement the Shops Act in the city. “The same government enforced shops act strictly during COVID-19,” he added.

Along with traders, the government officials have made the Shops Act a “joke” as bribes play a big role to help shops continue sales till late hours, he said and offered his organization’s role in implementing the law fully.

“A culture of staying up even after midnight that has developed in the public from watching TV channels and using internet and getting up late in the day has also changed the culture of business in the city,” he was of the view.

No shops open in the morning hours, except a few ones like medical stores, milk sellers or stationary shops, he said adding that a majority of businesses resume activities after 11a.m.

In the past, he said, the government officials would effectively implement the law, which had a big role in bringing a discipline to businesses.

“If the daylight saving system is in put in place, then the electricity consumption can drop significantly up to 30 percent,” he said adding that the business working hours should not exceed beyond eight hours a day to help reduce power cuts.

Major areas which he identified with retail shops serving till midnight include Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, North Karachi, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Johar, Keamari, Landhi, Surjani, Liaquatabad and New Karachi.

He urged the government to make the opening time compulsory for the shops, which should be not later than 8.30a.m.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022