FAISALABAD: Cloth traders here have found a way to dodge the authorities. They open their shops in various Clock Tower bazaars in the wee hours and close after a short while before officials begin their daily visits to the markets to ensure nothing is open.

During a visit to some of the bazaars, particularly those in the Gole Cloth area, scores of shops were found open and entertaining customers. Most of the customers had apparently come from other districts as well as small markets of Faisalabad. Barring a handful of people among the hundreds present, no one in the bazaars was seen wearing masks, maintaining social distancing or taking any other precautionary measures.

Haroon, a fabric trader, said scores of his customers from northern areas such as Swat, Mardan and Mansehra, were pressing them to supply fabric to sell to the local population. He said earlier they were refusing the supply, but now they had figured out a way to accommodate them, which he refused to disclose.

“This is the first Ramazan in my life when we are not able to introduce new designs due to the lockdown. Our customers from Karachi are also asking for fabric, but we were not able to send it to them.”

Haroon also said that people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had found a way to take the fabric from Faisalabad. However, he did not divulge any details.

The Faisalabad city Anjuman-i-Tajiran is also in favour of opening up shops after taking precautionary measures. The traders said they were finding it difficult to meet their expenses as the one-month lockdown had left them pressed for cash. They had requested the government to devise a mechanism through which traders could conduct their businesses with precaution.

A couple of days ago, the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry office-bearers had held a press conference pressing the government to allow traders to open their shops after ensuring precautionary measures. The next day, the district administration had held a meeting with the traders, but there was no progress since then.

A social worker, Ahtisham, said restrictions were imposed only on paper, while no measures were being taken practically to ensure social distancing to avoid the spread of coronavirus.

He said people were unable to understand whether the lockdown was a political move or had been imposed to save the masses from coronavirus. People had started ignoring the lockdown, which could lead to a disaster, he maintained.

A trader of Gole Cloth area, requesting anonymity, claimed they had been greasing the palms of policemen and municipal corporation employees so that their paraphernalia was not confiscated or cases registered against them. With the help of police and corporation employees, they had been doing business efficiently and making money.

“We have informed all of our customers over the phone about the timings of our shops,” he said, adding that they were providing food and shelter to their customers arriving from other cities.

He said their customers were coming to Faisalabad with the help of drivers delivering food items such as fruits and vegetables to different cities. “Our business is going good during the lockdown and we are exercising all precautionary measures,” he claimed.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2020