Despite Pinarayi’s word, police closing down barber shops forcibly

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite the clarification from the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that the barber shops in the state can open as part of the unlock process started on Thursday, the police and sectional divisional magistrates forced the shops to close down citing no government order as reason.
Many shop owners have also been penalised.  However, the CM’s assurance on Friday brought some relief to them as they hope to open shops from Monday. Earlier, an uncertainty looms large over the reopening of hair salons. 

As per Chief Minister’s announcement, barber shops in the state can be opened, but beauty parlours cannot. However, the government has neither issued an official order allowing them to open nor a clarification specifying the distinction between hair salons and beauty parlours, causing these shops to remain shut. It may be noted that a majority of barber shops in the state have scaled up their facilities to that of beauty parlours. 

Hence, many such shop owners are running pillar to post, from offices of local self-governments to police stations, seeking clarity on the matter.Though barber shops opened on Thursday and Friday in many areas with a test positivity rate (TPR) of less than 20 per cent, the police and sectional magistrates soon made the owners down the shutters stating they were yet to receive a government order on the matter. Penalties were also imposed on some of the shop owners.

The situation was different in Ernakulam district, where many salons opened on Friday based on the orders issued by various local-self governments.“We had to close our shops for more than 30 days. So we opened it on Thursday as per the announcement. However, the police interfered and shut us down again, claiming they did not get an official order in this regard.

They have also imposed a penalty of `2,000 on many shops. We have approached the district collector with a petition. But the district administration is also saying the state government is yet to issue an official order. Meanwhile, some higher officials in the Secretariat said barber shops can be opened. This is very confusing. If the government does not issue an order allowing our shops to open by at least next week, we will launch a protest,” said A L Anilkumar, an office-bearer of the Kerala State Barber and Beautician Association.

Gopan, a barber based in Balaramapuram, said he is financially broke and his shop needs maintenance work once it opens. “Many small barber shops like mine need renovation as they had been closed for more than a month. The maintenance cost would be higher than `25,000. We have no money and are struggling to make ends meet. We will adhere to all social distancing norms if we are allowed to open,” he said.