KD Desk
Srinagar: The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday held an emergency meeting with the Doctor’s Association of Kashmir (DAK) to discuss the serious situation arising die to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Kashmir lately.
President KCC&I Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad in a statement issued to Kashmir Despatch expressed concern at the spike in the number of cases despite Kashmir entering the fifth month of the COVID lockdown.
Ashiq said the lockdown imposed since March saw full public cooperation for the initial three months but the months of June and July saw widespread violations of the COVID SOPs.
He said the KCC&I was regularly appealing to the public to follow the SOPs while expressing concern at the gross carelessness and violation of COVID protocols by the public.
Ashiq also expressed concern over unnecessary movement and thronging of picnic spots in Srinagar and other districts. Besides, the abrupt relaxations given in the free movement of people had also caused a wrong impression about the gravity of the situation as a result of which people in general lowered their guard and the consequences were fatal.
While the administration’s focus on capacity building and training of stakeholders was appreciable, the KCCI President said the government had disregarded the importance of enforcement of the SOPs on the streets even though the writing was on the wall as well as in newspapers and social media.
