Traders from West Masi Street lining up in front of Special Monitoring Officer Kamaraj at the Circuit House in Madurai on Tuesday had an Hamletian query: to open or not to open their shops.

The delegation said that West Masi Street in the Temple City had a large number outlets selling textile, jewellery, home appliances, construction material, hardware and garments. There were also hotels, banks and eateries. In short, the stretch was the lifeline for residents and traders.

The street also had a few residential buildings.

Since March-end, shops and other commercial establishments on West Masi Street and surroundings downed shutters due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Under such circumstances, when the State government announced reopening of 34 type of shops and establishments all over the State on Monday, with certain exceptions, there was no official word to traders that they should not reopen their shops.

Hence, going by the Government Order, shopkeepers opened their businesses on Monday. However, within two to three hours, authorities led by the police directed them to down shutters.

Confusion prevailed for the next two hours as the shopkeepers had customers lined up in their showrooms.

“Our employees returned to work after 44 days. Suddenly, the authorities directed us to close the shops without giving any reasons,” the delegation told Mr. Kamaraj.

The Special Monitoring Officer assured the traders that he would in to look into their grievance after holding discussion with officials.

According to Saravanan of Meenakshi Fan House, dealers in home appliances, only last week, they appealed to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to consider giving them permission to reopen their establishments.

Home appliances and consumer electronics together accounted for ₹7,500 crore turnover per annum in the State. The sector employed 25,000 frontline salesmen and GST remittances stood at ₹1,875 crore per annum. About 40% of the earnings came in between March and May.

If there was any further delay in permitting the shops from opening, at least 10,000 people might go jobless in manufacturing, logistics, service engineers and advertising agencies, Mr. Saravanan said.

When contacted, Collector T. G. Vinay said that a positive case was reported near West Masi Street on Monday.

“It is not necessary that shops there need to stop sales or shut down. Only the street where the positive case has been identified needs to be barricaded. We will reassess the situation,” he added.