According to reports by The Indian Express, textile traders in Surat have been asked to sing Vande Mataram while opening their shops, and the national anthem when closing them by the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC).

This new rule has been mentioned in the guidelines that were issued on Saturday for reopening the textile trading markets in the wake of the novel coronavirus. 

As part of their “daily drill”, the SMC has also asked employees and workers to shout out ‘motivational slogans’ like “haarse corona jeetse Surat (corona will lose, Surat will win)” and, “ek lakshya humara hai corona ko harana hai (we have only one target, we have to defeat corona).”

indianexpress.com

While speaking about the new rules, Surat Municipal Commissioner BN Pani, in an interview said:

Singing Vande Mataram while opening the shops and Jana Gana Mana while closing the shops is a war cry to create bonding with the nation and fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Well, there’s more. The traders have also been asked to take a pledge that reads:

I will follow all the guidelines to contain the pandemic, laid down by the government, and adopt all safety measures and do my bit to prevent spread of the pandemic.

These guidelines were issued after meetings were held with Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Jayanti Ravi, SMC officials and members of the Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA).

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As per the guidelines, the textile markets will open in an odd-even manner from Monday between 10 AM to 5 PM. Surat has seen a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases since 29th June and most of the cases have been reported from the diamond and textile business clusters. 

TBH, we don’t know what these new guidelines will achieve and how it will help in fighting the coronavirus and the internet agrees too. 

So far, Gujarat has reported 40,941 cases the coronavirus, out of which, 6,727 cases and 267 deaths have been reported from Surat.