Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced a set of relaxations in terms of reopening of hotels, restaurants and shopping malls when restrictions "with stricter containment approach" have been imposed in the state to curb the spike in Covid cases.
The state government is also thinking of allowing shopping malls to operate with 25 per cent workforce after June 15, she said at a meeting with representatives of various Chambers of Commerce at the state Secretariat.
Receiving a set of requests for relaxations in different sectors from several representatives of Chambers of Commerce, Banerjee said: "The state government would consider the requests on a positive note. But on no occasion, the Covid norms can be violated and all precautionary measures have to be taken to avoid a further surge in virus cases. Vaccination of the employees before engaging them is also mandatory."
The shopping complexes, malls, hotels and restaurants were closed since the restrictions were imposed in the state on May 5. This has led to massive losses and it has been informed by the representatives of the Chambers of Commerce and business houses.
Considering their plea, the Chief Minister said: "Sweetmeat shops have been allowed to keep open from 10 am to 5 pm. The hotels and restaurants can also be kept open for three hours a day after vaccination of the employees." Later, it was decided that they can be kept open from 5-8 pm by engaging 50 percent of employees of the total strength after vaccination.
At the same time, she has also allowed retail shops to remain open for one more hour. Earlier, they used to operate from noon to 3 pm but now, the time period for retail shops would be 12 to 4 pm.
She also stated that the state government is strongly considering allowing the reopening of shopping malls from June 16. But there has to be a control on the crowd management.
Requesting the Chief Minister to reopen malls for a certain period of time in a day, Sushil Mohta, Credai Bengal president and Director in South City Group of Companies, told the Chief Minister that crowd management in malls is very easy as there are automatic sensor-based people counting cameras in most of them and at any given point in time, it is very easy to know how many people are there in the mall through the Intelligent Building Management System (IBMS) installed in the malls. Moreover, the corridors of the malls are very wide and there is enough space for car parking. The malls are designed in such a manner that there is enough queuing space in front of the escalators and lifts. Therefore, Covid protocol can be better followed in a mall compared to general shops in markets.
Moreover, all malls in Kolkata did good crowd management during the 2020 unlocking period and there are hundreds of trained staff to regulate visitors, maintain social distancing and ensure that hand sanitisation is being done. Fumigation and sanitisation are also done in corridors, toilets and other public areas on a regular basis. He further stated that it is also necessary to secure the livelihood of thousands of employees working in such malls.
The state government is also considering allowing the functioning of IT and ITeS sectors with 20 percent employees. Earlier, only 10 percent was allowed.
At the meeting, Banerjee also urged representatives of the Chambers to financially help the government in vaccinating the population of the state.
"We have been vaccinating 60-70 thousand people every day. The government cannot single-handedly vaccinate everyone. I will urge you to come forward and help us to inoculate people," the Chief Minister said. She also urged them to try to procure doses on their own to vaccinate workers of industries.