Srinagar, Apr 18: Rainy weather, coupled with a messy city centre of Srinagar – known as the hub of trade and commerce – has dampened shopping sentiment across markets in Kashmir valley.
In Srinagar’s city centre Lal Chowk and surrounding areas, street vendors were seen struggling to place their items on cots for sale, as the intermittent spells of rainfall did not let them settle. A very low foot fall of prospective shoppers due to the ongoing construction work in the city centre, coupled by restrictions on private transport and parking, have added to the low shopping sentiment too.
Street vendors from various parts of the valley who fix their cots temporarily along roadsides to sell their merchandise like kitchen items, utensils, clothing, bakery, etc are reportedly struggling to make any sales due to the rainfall.
Mohammad Maqbool, who runs a sweets and confectionary shop in Srinagar, told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that they could not display their sweet items outside their shop due to the continuous rainfall since morning.
“We normally fix a tent outside our shop to display the stock of sweets and confectionary for sales, but the wet weather played a spoiler,” he said, adding that they are hopeful of improvement in the weather and after which they will display their stock.
Normally, soon after the Jummat-ul-Vida and Shab-e-Qadar occasions, markets across Kashmir often witness an upsurge in sales with people thronging markets for shopping to buy dresses for children, food items, bakery items, mutton, and other items.
Meanwhile, as per the J&K’s weather department, the intermittent rain and thunderstorms are very likely to continue till April 21, and that 19th April will “very likely witness intermittent light to moderate rain/snowfall (over higher reaches) at many places”.
As per the MeT officials, last 24 hours till 0830 hours Tuesday, Srinagar received 6.9mm of rain, Qazigund 11.0mm, Pahalgam 22.4mm, Kupwara 15.7mm, Gulmarg 12.2mm, Jammu 6.2mm, Banihal 21.1mm, Katra 4.4mm, and Bhaderwah 9.2mm.
The temperature, as per the MeT for Srinagar, recorded a low of 11.0°C against 10.7°C on Monday night and it was 3.1°C below normal for the summer capital.
—(With inputs from KNO)
