KOLHAPUR: The traders in Kolhapur city and Ichalkaranji town have resolved to reopen all non-essential shops from Monday, despite the Level 4 of Covid restrictions being in place banning non-essential shops from operating.
For the past five weeks, Kolhapur has been under Level 4 restrictions. The shops, meanwhile, have been shut for more than three months and the traders claim they cannot keep their businesses closed any longer.
On Sunday, the police carried out a vehicle march through the major marketplaces in Kolhapur city, appealing to the traders not to reopen the non-essential shops. On Saturday night, senior police officers requested the traders to wait for the government to takes a decision to put Kolhapur city and 42 nearby villages of the Kolhapur Urban Development Authority in Level 3 together. Kolhapur district on Sunday reported 1,951 fresh cases and 27 succumbed to infection
Lalit Gandhi, the senior vice-president of the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce and Industries, addressing the traders from Mahadwar and Gujari locality near to Mahalaxmi temple, said, “Despite efforts of ministers and MLAs, the government has not taken any decision on the proposal to allow shops to reopen. Over 90% of traders are small traders who have had to borrow money at higher interest rates just to feed their families. We listened to the authorities and kept shops shut for another week. Now there is no question of another round of talks.”
The traders in Ichalkaranji too have decided to open shops from Monday. They met local representatives and officials and handed over the copy of their decision. Abhijit Patwa, the president of traders’ association in Ichalkaranji, said, “We are ready to go to jail for defying the orders, but we will not step back this time.”
