SHILLONG: Consumers in the city are breathing a sigh of relief after the East Khasi Hills district administration permitted fair price shops and stores selling essential items to open for four days in a row from Monday.
However, those at the opposite end of the spectrum — the shopkeepers and retailers — are not too happy with the directive.
With grocery shops and stores selling essential commodities open for four days, most of them have run out of stock with only a few still managing to provide supplies to consumers.
Though the move to open shops for four days was to prevent overcrowding and enforce social distancing norms, retailers have not been given enough time to stock up on supplies from wholesalers, shopkeepers claimed on Monday.
A confectionary shop owner on Monday welcomed the move to ease restrictions but said that his problems have compounded as his shop is running out of stock but people have been lining up for essential items.
Rows of empty shelves greeted the customers who waited for a long time for their turn to enter the shop, only to return empty handed.
Another shopkeeper said that bulk of their goods come from different wholesalers located in Bara Bazar and Police Bazar and with the two commercial hubs of the city closed for a month now, it was difficult for them to procure supplies from elsewhere.
Another shop owner said he had no option but to wait till Friday to stock up on essentials.
The district administration has directed wholesalers to open three days a week from Friday to Sunday.
Some shopkeepers observed that the state government should come out with alternative mechanism to ensure that all the shops get their stocks of different products from different agencies so that the end users i.e. customers are not affected in any way.
