Business will be open in Sindh from Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 3 pm, Murad Ali Shah

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has given permission to open business for four days from next week, Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 3 pm.

During Ramadan, a meeting was held on Standard Procedures for Opening Business (SOPs).

The meeting was chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah. Provincial Ministers Saeed Ghani, Imtiaz Sheikh, Mukesh Chawla, Nasir Shah, Spokesperson Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Inspector General (IG) Police Mushtaq Mehr, Principal Secretary Sajid Jamal Abro, Home Secretary Usman Chachar, Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Shalawani, Additional IG Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon were present.

During the meeting, the Sindh Chief Minister said that business would be open from 9 am to 3 pm from Monday to Thursday while grocery stores would be open from 8 am to 5 pm and delivery of cooked food would be from 5 pm to 10 pm.

The Sindh Chief Minister further said that there would be no home delivery service during the morning hours.

He said that there would be a lockdown after 5 pm in Ramadan and the Respect Ramadan Ordinance would continue despite the opening of business.

Murad Ali Shah said the provincial home department would issue an SOP and a notification regarding the timing of business activities.

Earlier in a video message released last night, the Sindh Chief Minister had said that the shopping centers which are not following the SOPs have been sealed immediately while the small traders also agreed that only online delivery would be done The President has formed SOPs after meeting the Ulema.

It may be recalled that a few days ago, the president of All Karachi Traders Union (ACTI) and other representatives of the traders of Shar-e-Quaid had announced to open a business from the first of Ramadan.

At a press conference in Karachi, representatives of various trade organizations, including Sharjeel Gopalani, president of the All Karachi Traders Union, announced the opening of markets regardless of the final operating procedure (SOPs) finalized by the Sindh government.

During the conversation, he had said that the business community had earlier decided to open shops and bazaars from April 15, but it was later postponed to assurances from the Sindh government.

In Karachi, six traders tried to open a business against the lockdown but were arrested by police.

Later on April 23, police arrested 12 more traders for violating lockdown measures.

It is to be noted that both the Karachi Police Chief and the Commissioner had warned the traders that if they run their business/shops without the permission of the government, law and order problems may arise in the city.

It should be noted here that despite a month-long lockdown in Sindh, the spread of coronavirus in Karachi has become a challenge for officials and experts and the number of locally transmitted patients in the city is increasing day by day. ۔

So far, the total number of people infected with the coronavirus in Sindh has risen to 3,945, while 772 people have recovered and 73 have died.