Bengal partial lockdown: No bar on grocery stores, cap on gathering

The state government ordered malls, cinemas, bars and restaurants indefinitely closed from Friday evening

South City Mall wears a deserted look around noon on Saturday.:Bishwarup Dutta and Pradip Sanyal

Debraj Mitra, Monalisa Chaudhuri, Pinak Ghosh   |  TT  |  Calcutta   |  02.05.21: The 7am-10am and 3pm-5pm windows of opening hours applicable to bazaars and haats are applicable for all “retail and stand-alone” shops, a state government notification said on Saturday. “Outlets providing services related to health care, electricity, telecom, transport, grocery, sweets, meat shops and milk supply” have been kept out of the embargo.

The Bengal government ordered malls, cinemas, bars and restaurants indefinitely closed from Friday evening. Bazaars and haats can stay open “only during 7-10am and 3-5pm”, a notification from the chief secretary said. The Saturday notice also put a cap of 50 persons on marriage and other social gatherings.

Snippets from the city on the first day of the renewed curbs.

Markets

Considerable rush was spotted in Maniktala and Gariahat market even after 10am. Several people who came for buying fruits, vegetables and meat, claimed they were not aware of the curb. Police officers used loudhailers inside marketplaces to announce the government’s restrictions.

A crowded Hatibagan Market at 9.20am on Saturday.:Bishwarup Dutta and Pradip Sanyal

Senior police officers said all the police stations have been instructed to communicate with the local market associations and convey the new timings that were announced by the state government on Friday evening.

“It will take a day or two for people to understand and follow the pattern. The biggest challenge will be to maintain social distancing when the markets will open only for two hours in morning and afternoon,” said an officer in Lalbazar.

A crowded Maniktala Market at 9am.:Bishwarup Dutta and Pradip Sanyal

Restaurants

The restaurants were shut for visitors. Some had posters pasted on their walls saying “only takeaway and online orders”.

A fear of a prolonged lockdown like last year, lurked in the minds of restaurateurs and people who work there.

“This (partial lockdown) was inevitable, the way cases were going up. I could see this coming. Business had started dipping since the second week of April. Naturally, there is fear of a sustained shutdown among the workers,” said a Park Street restaurateur. The owner of another restaurant in south Calcutta said he would send workers from other states on a “paid leave for 10-12 days”. The restaurant owners said they will bleed again if the shutdown continued for over a month.

Malls

The groceries sections of the Spencer’s hypermarkets were open at malls, which otherwise wore a deserted look.

“The groceries sections will continue to remain open according to normal business hours. The delivery system is also in operation,” said an official of Spencer’s. Around 12.15pm, the only persons in multiple floors of the sprawling South City Mall were guards and employees of some stores. “They had come for internal operations in the wake of the state government order,” said an official of the mall. The malls had also been witnessing a dip in footfall over the past month. “The Bengali New Year footfall was also on the lower side. But post April 15, the footfall dropped sharply,” said an official of a mall in south Calcutta.

Liquor stores

Standalone liquor shops can carry on with sales from 7-10am and 3-5pm, an excise official said. But most store owners said shops were unlikely to start business before 9am. “The 3pm to 5pm slot is what we are looking at for business,” said the owner of a store in central Calcutta. The online delivery of booze will, however, continue throughout the day. 

“Even if shops are shut for off-counter sale, the delivery partners will be able to come and pick up orders,” said the owner of a liquor store in south Calcutta.

Hawkers

A cop urges Garihat hawkers who had kept their stalls open even after 10am to shut shop.

Bishwarup Dutta and Pradip Sanyal

Many hawkers in Gariahat had kept their stalls opened well beyond 10am. According to the chief secretary’s notification, standalone shops were expected to follow the two windows (7am to 1am and 3pm to 5pm) of bazaars and haats. From 11.30am, cops from Gariahat police station used hailers to urge the traders to shut shop. By 12.30pm, the stalls were shut.

An officer said Saturday was the first day of the curbs and the police wanted to raise awareness among the traders.

“The enforcement will be stricter in the coming days,” he said.