Odd-even formula puts Ludhiana shopkeepers in quandary

Shivani Bhakoo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 24

To curb the rising graph of Covid-19, the district administration and the police are adopting serious measures. But, the recent declaration of opening shops on the basis of odd-even numbers has not gone down well with shopkeepers. Many feel that condition of their businesses already hit due to pandemic will further deteriorate and they will be in losses if the administration follows this formula.

Officialspeak

There is no confusion over odd-even formula. A few shopkeepers are raising doubts. All properties have been allotted numbers. There should not be any problem. Each shopkeeper will get three working days. — Varinder Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana

Talking to The Tribune, Mohinder Aggarwal, president of the Beopar Mandal, said, “Today is August 24. Going by this date, even number shops were to open. But, cops came and told shopkeepers that odd number shops will open today. Though shopkeepers tried to make them understand, they did not listen.”

“By 1:30 pm cops came again and realised their mistake. But, by that time, shopkeepers, who were supposed to open shops were gone,” Aggarwal added.

Naveen, a wholesale dealer of suits in Bhadaur House, said there were no buyers in the market. “Our work depends on retailers. When shops will open for just three days, there will be less footfall of buyers and retailers will not come to us for stocks. We are already running into losses. But this way, we will be in for more financial trouble,” Naveen added.

While the administration has declared odd-even formula, in Ghumar Mandi the market association has decided to shut one lane of shops on one day and another on other side of road on next day. Today, one lane of shops was closed and tomorrow other lane will be shut.

Sonu Nilibar from Nilibar showroom said, “Instead of going for odd-even numbers, the administration should allow shops to open category wise like in Patiala and Jalandhar.”

“There are owners, who have four shops with two shutters. One day they will open one shutter and the next day other shutter. There will be no losses for them. If a particular customer wants to visit us, he/she will not know when we will open our shop. If they allow cloth merchants to open shops on fixed days, customers will know when to come and it will be easy too,” Nilibar added.

To check if shopkeepers were adhering to the guidelines, cops visited several markets. They made shopkeepers down shutters of shops, which were open without their turn.

Cops confused

• Talking to The Tribune, Mohinder Aggarwal, president of the Beopar Mandal, said: “Today is August 24. Going by this date, shops with even serial nos. are supposed to open. But, the police came and told shopkeepers that shops with odd serial nos. will open today. Though the shopkeepers tried to make them understand, they did not listen.”
• “By 1:30 pm, the police came again and realised their mistake. But by that time, the shopkeepers, who were supposed to open their shops, were already gone,” added Aggarwal.

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