Mubashir Aalam Wani
Srinagar, Jun 4: The unlock process started by the administration in Jammu and Kashmir has failed to bring a respite among the street vendors here as according to them their carts are no longer witnessing the rush of customers here after a month-long lockdown.
Ghulam Mohi-ud-din Matoo, a street vendor said that the lockdown has affected him badly as he has not earned even a single penny during the last one month.
“However, as the government announced unlocking in J&K, we have started installing carts at different places across Srinagar. But, our carts are no longer getting an attraction from the customers as there is hardly any customer who visits them and buy the stuff from our carts after unlocking,” Matoo said.
He appealed to the government to provide relief so that they (street vendors) here could heave a sigh of relief.
Another non-local vendor narrated his ordeal during the period of lockdown, saying that he along with his roommates were not even able to have two-time meals in a day as they couldn’t come out to earn their livelihood.
Sameer Ahmad, a vendor from Makkah market Lal Chowk said that they are struggling to survive from 2019. “There are at least 500 members in this market rehabilitated in 2016. We have been struggling since 2019 as the situation has frequently been unfavorable since then, thus adding to the miseries of street vendors,” he said.
Ahmad said that the unlock announced by the government has failed to bring any respite among them as the customers don’t visit their carts to buy the stuff. “We are facing hardships in paying the monthly EMIs of loans as we are not able to earn due to the prevalent situation,” he said.
