'Assam has enough essential items to last for 3 months'

GUWAHATI: Kamrup Chamber of Commerce said despite commerce hub Fancy Bazaar being shut after being declared a containment zone, the state has enough essential commodities to sustain for the next three months.
"It is important to make sure that the market is completely risk-free when it reopens. It is our moral and social responsibility to maintain supply of essential items to avoid scarcity in towns and villages.I request traders and citizens to open shops after taking necessary precautions like maintaining social distancing norms, ensuring people wear masks and use hand sanitizers and avoiding overcrowding," Kamrup Chamber of Commerce (KCC) president MP Jain said. He added, "We are trying to ensure that the supply chain is not disturbed anywhere in the state and region."
Asserting that there is no scarcity of goods and there are enough in transit as well, he said, "KCC requests people to not panic and resort to panic-buying. All traders are standing with the people of Assam and we will ensure that there will be no scarcity of essential items." KCC warned that ignoring the safety measures in Fancy Bazaar may prove disastrous and unsafe for everyone in the market area and affect people of Assam and its neighbouring states at large.
Talking to TOI, state food and civil supplies minister Phani Bhusan Choudhury said Covid-19 testing of all labourers engaged with the wholesale traders of Fancy Bazaar is required in order to bring back normalcy in the commerce hub.
"The traders of Fancy Bazaar want Covid-19 testing of all labourers in order to stop the spread of the virus. The wholesale traders employ around 200 labourers and drivers. All of them have to be tested to bring back normalcy. We will be doing it with the help of the health department," Choudhury added.