PESHAWAR: A traders’ meeting with the administration officials on opening of the bazaars in Peshawar remained inconclusive on Monday.

According to traders’ representatives, the next meeting will be held at the commissioner’s office on Wednesday. “We discussed in detail all the issues, including SOPs for opening of markets in phases, to ensure social distancing and enable the traders to earn livelihood,” Malik Meher Ilahi, who headed the traders’ delegation, told Dawn after the meeting.

He said keeping the bazaars closed any longer would cause mistrust between the government and the business community as the traders wanted to open shops ahead of Ramazan at all costs. “We presented our demands and the relevant officials agreed to consider the proposals after approval from the provincial government in line with the federal government directives,” he said.

Similarly, transporters also attempted to bring their passengers’ vehicles on roads on Monday but they were not allowed.

It was learnt that some mini-buses carrying passengers from Karkhano side were stopped on the Ring Road.

“We have not allowed any of the transporters to defy lockdown,” Khan Zaman Afridi, head of the Urban Transport Union, told Dawn. He said the government had extended ban on public transport till April 18 without taking the transporters’ associations on board.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2020