Seal borders instead of clampdown: traders

Representatives of various trade associations and business establishments of Mysuru met here on Saturday and strongly opposed the weekend curfew in Mysuru citing reasons of COVID-19 spike in Kerala.

They urged the government to withdraw the curfew as the traders and business community will be hard hit once again as they were yet to recover from the losses they suffered during this year’s protracted lockdown.

The Federation of Mysuru Traders’ Associations suggested that the government considerg sealing or stepping up checks at the inter-State border instead of clampdown. “How wise is it to interrupt trade with repeated clampdowns amidst an estimate that the pandemic would remain till 2025,” they asked.

At the meeting, the representatives questioned the logic behind imposing weekend curfew in the border districts such as Mysuru when Kerala itself has not gone for clampdown despite surge in cases.

The government can look for containing the spread from Kerala with strict checks at the border, denying entry to those not carrying a RT-PCR negative report not older than 72 hours and vaccination certificate. “If this is done, the pandemic can be kept under control instead of imposing lockdowns repeatedly whenever there is a spike,” they argued.

The traders and tourism stakeholders said the lockdown curbs were lifted on July 5 but their business was yet to stabilise. Now, with the weekend curfew, it will spoil chances of recovery and thereby put the trading community into serious financial trouble.

Mysuru Hotel Owners Association President C. Narayana Gowda, B.S. Prashanth of Mysuru Travels’ Association and Tourism Forum and various stakeholders from the tourism industry, heads of trade associations, travel and other organisations were present.

The associations met Minister S.T. Somashekar and presented a memorandum to him here on Saturday urging him to drop the order on curfew.