Markets set own clock as Valley Simmers

Editor

A carefully set timetable to open and close markets amid the ongoing unrest in the region is helping maintain a steady supply of essentials and daily use commodities to the residents.
The markets in the city neighbourhoods here open twice a day: for a few hours at dawn and after dusk prayers.
During the day, the markets remain closed across the region as shutdown and curfew continue for a ninth day across the Kashmir valley. The unrest was triggered by the killing of a militant commander on July 8 and has shown no sign of an end.
“We have an understanding with protesters, they agree with us to open shops twice a day so people can buy the essential commodities,” said a shopkeeper in Bemina, one of the biggest residential neighbourhoods in Srinagar.
In Rawalpora on outskirts of the city, the market opens early morning daily and shuts at 8 am. “We buy the stocks for the day in the morning usually, because there is no surety for evenings,” said Anjum Ahmad, a resident of Rawalpora. The morning and evening timing for markets was first experimented during 2010 unrest, when the region had remained shut for the entire summer.
The ongoing unrest has also given rise to volunteer work as relief organisations and local committees have set up free food stalls in many localities and outside hospitals and a vegetable dealers’ association is distributing free supplies.
“We are distributing free vegetables in packets. Each packet weighs six kilogrammes and contains tomatoes, onions, and potatoes. So far we have distributed nearly 7,000 packets in the downtown localities, Maisuma, Chatabal and Batamaloo,” said Mehraj-ud-din of Kashmir Vegetable Association, Iqbal Sabzi Mandi. He said free vegetables had also been sent to hospitals in the city.

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