Srinagar, Oct 23 : As the ongoing uncertainty has led to the closure of business establishments and shops across valley, shopkeepers turn road side vendors to sell their stuff.
According to wire service— the pathways at major roads in Srinagar city are being occupied by roadside vendor’s who has placed their goods on the roadside for selling purposes in order to avoid to opening of shops for sales. Majority of vendors have turned into street vendors of late as they have not been able to open their shops since August 5.
The roadside markets abuzz right after the end of the morning deal hours when most of the business establishment shutdown for the rest of the day. A new business approach is being used by various shopkeepers in order to fetch customers during the daytime without inviting any trouble.
Rafiq Ahmad, a local shopkeeper, in Srinagar said, “My shop is located in downtown area which remains off most of the times and now I have brought my stuff here at Hari Singh High Street (HSHS) pavement to get my stuff sold.”
He said that it’s embarrassing for a shopkeeper to occupy the roadside for conducting the business. As we are very much aware that roadside is particularly for pedestrians but nowadays it’s being used by most of the shopkeepers because on ongoing uncertainty. He further added that, “The ongoing uncertainty has brought us here as we never thought to opt for this, I never thought in my life that I will close down my shop and rely on roadside sales.”
Shahid Mir, a pedestrian from Srinagar said, “The occupancy of pathways by various roadside vendors is quite inconvenient as we are forced to walk on the streets rather than footpaths.”
He said that the presence of roadside vendors has increased at large throughout the city as most of the goods are put on footpaths blocking most of the paths for common public. He further added, “The absence of Srinagar Municipal Committee (SMC) and traffic officials are accountable for this mess which is disrupting the traffic at HSHS and residency road stretch.” (KNO)
