A crowded Thane market on Sunday. ( Express Photo by Deepak Joshi)
Salons, gyms and shops selling non-essential items, and restaurants undertook sanitisation measures of their premises on Sunday, as they prepared to reopen from Monday after a two-month hiatus. Industry association and shopkeepers, however, said not all establishments will be in a position to resume business from Monday.
According to the new order issued under ‘Break the chain’ guidelines, while shops selling essential products will be allowed to remain open till 4 pm on all days in the city, those selling non-essential items will stay open until 4 pm on weekdays. For restaurants, dine-in is permitted at 50 per cent seating capacity until 4 pm on weekdays and thereafter, only parcel, takeaway and home delivery will be allowed. On Saturday and Sunday, non-essential shops and restaurants will remain shut.
The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) said with the timing restrictions, only 20 per cent restaurants might open from Monday. “For restaurants, times restrictions for dine-in till 4 pm is not in favour of business. Almost 75 to 80 per cent of a restaurant’s business takes place after evening hours. We welcome the move and hope that restaurants will soon be allowed to operate at all times,” said Mr Pradeep Shetty, senior vice president, HRAWI.
There are around 90,000 eateries, restaurants, cafes, bars in Mumbai Metropolitan Region. On Sunday, restaurants laid down tables as before with every alternate table to be kept vacant to ensure distance, with sanitisers at the entrance and each table. While walk-in will be allowed at eateries, restaurants are encouraging reservations to avoid crowding at the waiting area. Some restaurants are also opting for compact menus and code-based digital menus to minimise contact.
“Since there is a capacity restriction, we recommend that restaurants with open spaces and terraces should be allowed to utilise that space. This will compensate restaurants for the loss of licensed space utilisation and also ensure distance is maintained,” Shetty added.
Similarly, gyms, salons and beauty parlours can operate with 50 per cent capacity, allowing customers through prior appointment. “We had set up sanitisation and appointment rules last year when we reopened — the workspace, including chairs, will be sanitised after each service. All common areas and floor will be sanitised at regular intervals. We will be following the same. On Sunday we undertook cleanliness of the area, prepared staff timetable to open from Monday. We have started receiving appointment calls for Monday,” said a salon owner from Kandivali.
Some other measures include downloading of the Aarogya Setu app by clients as well as staff, PPE kits for all staff members, temperature checks, turning away walk-in customers, using disposable and sterilised equipment, and sanitisation of the gym exercising area every 45 minutes, among others.
Welcoming the extension in timings, shopkeepers requested the state government to allow local trains as most of their staff stayed outside Mumbai.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
