Even as retailers and shopkeepers gear up to open stores on June 5, traders' association president suggests ideas for reopening
State government has allowed non-essential shops to open on an odd-even basis in non-Containment Zones. File pic
The state government's guidelines for gradually unlocking the city almost after two-and-a-half-months have come as a huge relief for retailers and shopkeepers as they will be able to roll up their shutters from June 5 on an odd-even basis in non-containment zones. Viren Shah, president of the Federation of Retail Traders' Welfare Association (FRTWA), said that after the order was issued, he had made some suggestions on how the re-opening could be done to Aaditya Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta. One of the primary suggestions was that travel passes should be issued for staffers, as commute would be a major challenge.
The 16-point suggestions given by Shah include an assurance that shops would allow only one-third of their total staff to work and ensure that they and the customers follow social distancing rules. The staffers would be regularly checked with a digital thermometer to ensure that they don't have fever and they would also have to undergo regular health check-ups.
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Commute, a challenge
Citing commute to be one of the major problems that the workers would face, he suggested giving travel passes and allowing them to commute via trains or buses, whichever mode of transportation is being made available for government office staff. He said, "Local wards can issue passes based on the size of the shop," adding as an example that a 250-350 square feet shop would need two staff members plus a manager while larger shops above 10,000 square feet would need at least 40-60 staff members plus four managers.
"There also needs to be some kind of relaxations for those who stay in the suburbs and will have to travel for work. These guidelines will have to be issued by the local ward office," he added.
Allow home deliveries
Some of the other suggestions made by the FRTWA are to allow the workers carry out home deliveries to customers across the city and to increase the time limit for keeping non-essential shops open (10 am to 8 pm). It said that essential shops should also be allowed to remain open till 8 pm. Further, department stores or standalone stores should be allowed to remain open every day, and no hawkers should be allowed outside shops on footpaths.
Shah suggested that if there are no shops on the other side of a road or lane, then the ones already present should be allowed to remain open everyday.
Furthermore, the local ward office should ensure that the outside area of shops and the adjoining footpath were sanitised on a daily or alternate day basis. He further said that customers should not be allowed to try out garments and sarees and exchange or alter any of it.
"The government has to issue the final guidelines, these are just suggestions," Shah said, adding that he was happy with the way the government had come up with a structured, phase-wise reopening plan.
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