Srinagar ,24-JAN; Instead of the usual hustle and bustle of 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.Hundreds of vendors used to sell different items, including sweaters and other warm clothes, blankets, utensils, shawls and carpets, in the market. The 3-km-long Sunday market from Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) to Hari Singh High Street (HSHS), including Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the summer capital, Srinagar, was deserted as vendors were not allowed to put up their stalls in the market in the city.The continuous closure of the famous market, which attracts customers from across Kashmir valley, has badly affected to vendors, who claim that they have incurred losses to the tune of crores of rupees.Majority of vendors are facing starvation while some are working as labourers to feed their families, the vendors alleged.“The administration should issue separate Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to operate Sunday market which provides livelihood to thousands of families,” said a vendor Bilal Ahmad, a resident of Khanyar, who used to sell shawls and other warm clothes at the market.“We are ready to implement any SOP and other instructions to operate the market, which was attracting customers from different parts of the valley,” he added.Another vendor Tahir Hussain said that the vendors in Sunday market have been suffering since long, when things were returning to normal, restriction due to COVID-19 were again imposed by the administration.He said government should come forward and help vendors who are registered.Similar views were expressed by other vendors, who used to put up stalls in the market.The closure of the weekly flea market in the heart of the city had left people, particularly economically weaker section of the society, with no option but to understand the fact that it is the need of the hour, but the government should make some kind of arrangement for our livelihood. “There are more than 2,500 families whose earnings come from the Sunday market,” he said.There are also many tailors who earned by doing alteration work on clothes at the Sunday market. One of them is Mohamad Ayoub. He said that for the past five years he has been doing repair and alteration work on clothes at the Sunday market to earn a livelihood.“I only know this work, so I can only wait for the market to re-open. Who knows when this situation will become normal,” Ayoub said.Apart from vendors and tailors, persons who did ironing of second-hand clothes sold at the Sunday market have also been left without any work or income.Government on Sunday decided to continue with the 64-hour lockdown from 2 p.m. Friday in Jammu and Kashmir.In an order issued by the State Executive Committee headed
