Pulwama, Jan 02: The businesses, whether long-established ones or start-ups, in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district faced losses worth crores as the district remained uncontrollably violent in 2018.
The district observed a record number of shutdowns last year and thus inflicting a substantial damage on the business sector.
Talking to Kashmir Images Traders Federation Secretary Pulwama, Altaf Ahmad Kar, said: “In 2018, Pulwama district observed shutdowns and protests for almost 155 days and the estimated loss amounts to more than twenty crore per month.
A shopkeeper, Ishfaq Ahmad Mir, from Pulwama town said that due to frequent shutdown, the shopkeepers in Pulwama failed to make weekly payments to the merchants of other districts as a result many wholesalers have shun business ties with the shopkeepers in Pulwama areas.
“The frequent suspension of internet services added to our woes as we could not make online transactions to the dealers,” he added.
The start-up business owners here told Kashmir Images that they are facing difficult times because of frequent shutdowns. “We are not in a position where we could afford to shut our business units.”
“A total of eighteen gunfights were reported between government forces and militants in Pulwama district, including police district Pulwama and Awantipora, in 2018,” said a police official.
