Semblance of normalcy returns

Some shopowners get back to business right away, others in wait-and-watch mode

After almost 72 days of lockdown, the country's financial capital, Mumbai, began to attempt a return to normalcy on Friday, June 5, by setting in motion some important activities.

With the Maharashtra government allowing shops and markets in commercial zones to operate, on an odd-even basis, as part of Unlock 1.0, many shops and retail outlets opened on Wednesday.

However, in keeping with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's injunction, asking people to step out cautiously and adhere to social distancing norms, many shops had marked pitches around their premises to ensure that patrons were in compliance.

Raj Damle opened his novelty store in Kandivli for the first time after the lockdown. He said, that preparatory to reopening, he had sanitised his shop premises with bleaching powder and disinfectants and is abiding by the government's social distancing and no-return policy.

"I have opened my shop after more than two months, have sanitised and disinfected it and will abide by the rules set up by the administration," he averred.

However, not every shopowner has followed suit. Some of them are preferring to 'wait and see' first, instead of swinging back to normalcy in one go.

"If I restart my business, I will have to call back my workers who live in the outskirts of the city and if the civic officials close down everything suddenly, like they did the last time, my employees will once again

find themselves in a spot. So, I would prefer to wait a while," said Tarun Chavan, a business owner in Goregaon.

Unlike the early days of the lockdown when there were huge queues outside grocer y stores, on Friday, people were seen prioritising their chores. Ironing seemed to be a pressing need, with a number of people flocking to their local 'istriwallas' or visiting laundries to bundle off their clothes for dr y-cleaning or other treatment. "Private offices will be functioning from June 8, so most people are getting their clothes ironed and washed," observed Sonia Singh, a corporate employee.

In other parts of suburban Mumbai, people queued up outside electronic shops for non-essential goods and services, like repairing their mobile phones, which may have had issues or conked off during the lockdown. "My phone stopped working three weeks ago and it is still under warranty, so it would be foolish to buy a new one. So, the first thing I did today (Friday), was to get my phone repaired," said Sanjana Singh, a student.

However, Kashmira Haate, a homemaker, was concerned with critical household requirements. "I have been wanting to buy a cooker since March, but had to make do with the old one because of the lockdown. Now that the shops are open, I will make sure I have all the necessar y kitchenware and never find myself in a spot," she said. As per government regulations, the use of trial rooms in apparel stores is banned and ever y business owner will have to follow a no-return policy. Local civic officials have been told to conduct impromptu inspections.

Civic ward officers Kiran Dighavkar ( G north) and Prashant Gaikwad ( D ward) tweeted all the lockdown rules mandatory for shopowners. While ward officers in every other ward have instructed shopowners to down shutters by 5pm, as Dadar in G north ward is a major commercial hub, shops and business establishments are allowed to remain operational till 8pm.

"Civic officials will be conducting impromptu inspections and if anyone is found guilty of non-adherence to norms, strict action will be taken. These are testing times and each of us needs to he responsible," said a civic official. However, since travel on suburban trains is still restricted, there was unprecedented traffic on the roads. Snarls were reported across all the main city junctions on Friday, a day af ter the state government allowed inter-district vehicular movement in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). While a huge vehicle turnout was witnessed on all city roads like the Western and Eastern Express Highways, Sion-Panvel Highway and other roads, massive congestion was reported in central Mumbai on the Lalbaug and JJ flyovers, with bumper-to-bumper traffic.