Carelessness reigns supreme at shopping places during relaxation in lockdown.

HYDERABAD -- Crowds of men, women and children thronged markets, bazaars, commercial areas and scattered outlets in almost all big and small towns of the interior of Sindh as the provincial government eased a weeks-long (55 days to be particular) lockdown on Monday to allow people to buy essentially required commodities and domestic items.

Customers in large numbers were also seen doing Eid shopping at the outlets and vending stalls offering clothes, garments, jewellery, cosmetics and various other such items.

Traders, shopkeepers and customers in different parts of this district hardly complied with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) laid down by Sindh government.

Big turnout of customers - mostly women - was witnessed in clothes and garment markets, besides other bazaars. ShopAkeepers in most cases were not wearing masks nor were they found asking their customers to maintain six feet distance as is required under the SOPs.

Resham Bazaar, Cloth Market, Kohinoor Market, Unit-8 market, Tilak Incline, Station Road, Electronics Markets, Saddar, Cantonment areas and all other shopping places in Hyderabad city were seen packed with customers.

Mobile markets in the Cantonment area, which usually witness a rush during post-iftar hours, appeared to be exception as the relaxation time in the lockdown ends much before iftar time.

Given repeated advisories of government and health experts asking people to avoid coming very close to each other to stem the spread of coronavirus, the situation seems disappointing for the authorities concerned.

Cloth Market, Resham Bazaar, Kohinoor Market witnessed huge rush of women despite severe heat gripping the city.

Assistant Commissioner City Arbab Ibrahim sealed off three shops after observing that people crowding them were...