Amid Covid surge Srinagar's famous Sunday market remains deserted ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr

Instead of the usual hustle and bustle of festive shoppers, the Sunday market wore a deserted look as all the roads and market places, including Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the summer capital, Srinagar, remained sealed with authorities seeking cooperation from the public to curtail the spread of COVID-19 by strictly adhering to the lockdown.

The closure of the flea market in the heart of the city, has left people, particularly economically weaker sections of the society, with no option but to celebrate this Eid without new clothes and other items available in this market for reasonable rates.

"I always bought clothes for my children from the Sunday market as they were affordable and the quality was also good. I have been purchasing clothes for my children ahead of Eid from this market from last couple of years. But the flea market has not open for festive seasons in the last two years,” Javeed Ahmad, who along with his wife works as domestic helps in Srinagar, told UNI.

His children will be disappointed again as he can’t afford to purchase new clothes for them due to financial constraints.       
 
Hundreds of vendors sold different items, including sweaters and other warm clothes, blankets, utensils, shawls and carpets, in the market. However, the 3-km-long Sunday market which stretched from Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) to Hari Singh High Street (HSHS), including Lal Chowk was deserted as vendors were not allowed to set up their stalls.

The market attracted thousands of customers from different parts of the Valley before Eid-ul-Fitr every year. Business worth crores of rupees was done every week in the market in which goods, ranging from a hairpin to carpets, were sold at economical rates.

“We have not been allowed to put up our stalls in the flea market ahead of Eid in view of COVID curfew. We understand that it is the need of the hour, but the government should make some kind of arrangement for our livelihood,” Tahir Ahmad, a Sunday market vendor told UNI.

He said that they hardly did any business since August 2019. “The Sunday market has been closed for several months after abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35 A and the period of unrest after it. In 2020, we opened the market for few weeks and then it was again closed in March due to COVID pandemic. In 2021, we were allowed to put up stalls for a few weeks and then again we were directed to close it in April coronavirus cases surged. We are finding it difficult to sustain and carry on with our lives,” he added.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday extended the ‘COVID curfew’, earlier scheduled to end on Monday, till May 17 in all the 20 districts of the Union Territory.

Eid-ul-Fitr, the culmination of holy fasting month of Ramazan, also falls within the extended corona curfew period.

The extension in the lockdown in the UT has come in the backdrop of continuous rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, particularly in Srinagar, which has recorded the major chunk of positive cases in last 27 days.

Srinagar reported 853 cases on Saturday followed by Jammu with 634 cases out of the 4788 new Covid-19 cases in J&K. Of the 60 deaths recorded on Saturday in the UT, 18 were from Kashmir and 42 from Jammu.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration earlier this week extended the shutdown for the third successive time since April 29 in four districts, including Srinagar, Baramulla, Budgam and Jammu till May 10.

However, the lockdown was also extended by the respective Deputy Commissioners of other districts in the valley.