Lockdown: Impact on tourists

The rapid spread of Covid-19 in Jammu and Kashmir has led to the series of stringent measures by the administration here to prevent the virus from spreading further. In the last couple of days, the daily cases of Covid-19 are increasing with each passing day here. In wake of the surge in COVID cases, the government ordered imposition of weekend lockdown once again across Jammu and Kashmir. Although there was no prior announcement in this regard, the sudden imposition of weekend lockdown has forced the people especially the tourists present in the Valley to face hardships due to the closure of shops and other pivotal establishments. The tourists found it difficult throughout the day across J&K as they couldn’t find the place to eat, buy essentials or do shopping here as the decision taken by the government was surprising for one and all. Besides, the traders too faced loses as they had not expected such a decision. And even opened the shutters of their respective shops in the morning hours. There is a need to take the decisions after taking the concerned stakeholders on board so that there is no confusion among the people and the government should ensure that the people, especially the tourists will not face any kind of hardships due to the weekend lockdown. The government should identify some place where the essential shops like restaurants and others shall remain open for the tourists so that they could heave a sigh of relief and the outings are not affected.