Hyderabad: City begins to buzz again as shops open

Hyderabad: The city sprints back to life on Tuesday with government relaxing the lockdown restrictions as people lined up at the shops for their needs. When the shopkeepers came to open their shops, they were surprised with the numbering on their shops specifying the day on which they should be opened. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) authorities marked numbers 1 and 2 on the shops in several parts of the city.

Some of the shopkeepers had come to take up cleanliness and some were eager to know about the rules for opening their shops. The shop owners were told that shops can be opened only for three days in a week and no shops would be allowed to open on Sundays.

GHMC Commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar inspected the marking of numbers on the shops at Malakpet area. The barber shops were opened in the Malakpet area a part of which is containment zone. The barber shops owners in Malakpet were also asked to open their shops on alternate days since the area falls under containment zones.

The barber shop workers were seen wearing masks, gloves and using cloth which can be used one time. The commissioner directed the Zonal Commissioners to take up markings on the shops in their respective areas. The zonal commissioners were asked to inspect the shops on regular basis and suggested that if issues arise between two adjacent shops, those should be closed down until the lockdown is lifted.

People were seen lined up at the electronic shops for products like cell phones, televisions etc. A showroom in Secunderabad was allowing only five persons at a time to enter the premises. The showroom personnel were seen spraying sanitizers, checking temperatures with thermal scanners and insisting customers to stand in the boxes prepared for maintaining physical distancing. The Commissioner said that shops providing essential commodities, dairy products, vegetables, fruits, construction material would be kept open every day. The restaurants providing take away can also be kept open.

At Osmangunj market, a hardware shop owner K Srinivas said that they were happy with the odd even formula and added that they would follow this. "We are not allowing customers inside the shop, our workers wearing gloves will take order and handover them the products to them," said the shop owner.

More number of garment shops were seen open in Old City areas like Madina Cross Roads, Pathargatti. Some shop owners said that they had come to clean the shop and closed down after officials informed them about the odd even formula.