Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) and former President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Siraj Kassam Teli has urged the Sindh Government to completely do away with the ongoing lockdown at least during the last week of Ramazan-ul-Mubarak in which all the shops and shopping malls be permitted to operate 24-hour a day, which would not only help in dealing with the overcrowding issue at various commercial markets due to limited timings but would enable the small traders/ shopkeepers to recover some of the previous losses suffered by them because of prolonged lockdown.

In a statement issued, Siraj Teli stressed that the lockdown has to be completely relaxed for a week before Eid so that Karachiites could visit commercial markets without any hassle.

While appreciating numerous steps taken by Sindh Government since the imposition of lockdown to prevent spread of coronavirus pandemic particularly the hard work by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chairman BMG regretted that it was really unfortunate to see that during last week when the lockdown was eased, small traders and shopkeepers breached their commitments made to Sindh Government by grossly ignoring the mutually agreed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

"The Karachi Chamber, being the premier Chamber and actual representative of the entire business & industrial community, is not only too concerned about the losses suffered by small traders, shopkeepers and the industrialists but also equally worried about the lives of the masses as we cannot afford to run our businesses at the cost of the lives of the innocent public, who could become victim of the life-threatening virus anytime, hence it is the moral and social responsibility of everyone to adopt the SOPs", Siraj Teli said.