Delhi’s wholesale hub Sadar Bazar set to open shops on Wednesday

Federation of Sadar Bazar Traders Association said they had been waiting to open shops as they suffered huge losses during the Covid-19 lockdown.

After remaining shut for two months, Sadar Bazar traders will reopen their shops from Wednesday as the authorities re-demarcated boundaries of the containment zones in the area, officials said.

Workers transporting packages in the Sadar Bazar wholesale market where shops remained closed despite relaxations given by the government during lockdown in New Delhi on June 2, 2020. (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

According to officials of the district disaster management authority, after re-demarcation, Sadar Bazar will have six containment zones. The market has been declared a buffer zone.

“As per inputs from the district medical team, it was imperative to redraw boundaries of Sadar Bazar containment zones to reduce the hardship of residents and to facilitate effective implementation of the disinfection drive as well as strict perimeter control. A couple of active cases reported have been mapped and small pockets have been identified as micro-containment zones while the remaining area has been declared a buffer zone as has been done in many other cities,” an order issued by the District Magistrate (Central) Nidhi Srivastava said.

Srivastava said since the market is in the buffer zone, traders are required to take adequate measures to maintain social distancing.

The order said in the containment zones, only essential activities will be allowed. “There shall be strict perimeter control to ensure there is no movement of people in or out of containment zones, except for medical emergencies and for maintaining supply of essential goods and services,” it said.

The traders’ body said they had been waiting to open shops as they suffered huge losses during the lockdown.

“The market houses at least 40,000 shops. The traders had a hard time, running short on savings. We will open shops after so long. We don’t know the condition of the stock. We will clean up tomorrow and start attending to customers later. We will take all precautions to maintain a six-feet distance and regularly sanitise the area,” Paramjeet Singh Pamma, vice-chairman, Federation of Sadar Bazar Traders Association, said.

The traders’ body had been demanding reopening of shops since other markets in the city opened last month. They had written to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying 70% of Sadar Bazar was purely commercial and that the cases were being reported from residential pockets.