Thin attendance at government offices
Extended relaxation sees staff turn up at colleges
WHILE THE popular NTR Marg and Necklace Road (now PV Narasimha Rao Marg) saw a few couples and families, there were some who came out for a stroll.
Attendance in government offices was sluggish on the first day after lifting of the lockdown during the daytime.
Commercial establishments and business entities raised their shutters and hoped for a steady pick-up in transactions.
Lockdown restrictions continued to be in place from 6 in the evening and there were fewer people in the streets even in popular areas like those around Hussainsagar lake.
Attendance was thin in the government offices including the state Secretariat. “There seems to be some confusion over whether the 50 per cent attendance rule is still in place,” explained a section officer at the secretariat.
The mood was upbeat at commercial centres with traders and businessmen expressing happiness over the decision to increase the relaxation hours. Prabhaker, who runs an electric appliance shop at Troop Bazar, said, “We are thankful to the government, we are getting customers. Remaining open only for a few hours a day does not help at all.”
Elsewhere, colleges under Osmania University saw teaching and non-teaching staff turning up for work. Prabhu, who works in an aided college said, “Most of the staff have started working as advised by the university. Lecturers were asked to take online classes from the college itself.”
Restaurants are considering the reopening of their dine-in section. According to Satish Kumar, manager at a fine-dine restaurant, “Our takeaway services are on with app-based aggregators. Restaurants will soon decide on reopening of dine-in sections.”
While the popular NTR Marg and Necklace Road (now PV Narasimha Rao Marg) saw a few couples and families, there were those who have come out for a stroll.
TSRTC increased its services in the city from Thursday with V. Venketeshwarlu, RTC’s Greater Hyderabad Zone’s Executive Director saying “From Thursday onwards, the number of services have been increased from 900 to 1,500 in GHMC region, based on the footfalls.”