Markets in Ghaziabad to open from Monday
The Ghaziabad administration in Uttar Pradesh on Friday said markets in the district will open from May 25 on alternate days from 10 am to 5 pm.
Two days’ time has been given to shopkeepers to make arrangements to ensure social distancing, it said.
District magistrate (DM) Ajay Shankar Pandey said that if the markets would have opened on Saturday, people would have rush to shop and there is a risk of spreading of Covid-19.
Markets across the district will open from 10 am to 5 pm, he said.
“For the first time in any district, the administration
has given two days time for shops lying vacant for the past few months to arrange their stock. After a meeting with trader communities, shopkeepers were given time to sanitise and arrange their stocks in godowns to ensure smooth functioning. The state government guidelines will be strictly followed,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, DM, Ghaziabad.
All markets will remain closed every Sunday, while shops in colonies will remain open on ‘leftright’ basis for three days each to avoid overcrowding, he added.
Mr Pandey said markets in Indirapuram and Vaishali will open on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, while Vasundhara, Kaushambi, Rajendra Nagar, Shyam Park, Raj Nagar district centre shopping complexes will open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The schedule for the entire district has been issued to traders’ associations for circulation among the masses, he said. According to officials, in residential colony markets, shops on the right side will remain open for three days while shops on the left side will open for the rest of the days. The shopkeepers have been tasked with providing their employees with hand sanitisers, gloves and masks as precautionary measures. Traders will have to function with 50 per cent of their staff, as per the guidelines.
In the rest of the district, curfew between 7 pm and 7 am will remain in place and those persons involved in essential services will be exempted.
The administration clarified that the relaxations will not be applicable in containment zones or hotspots, where status quo of restrictions shall remain.