Telangana: Business NOT as usual

Hyderabad: With unlocking of the restrictions imposed due to coronavirus, commercial and spiritual activities got a restart in the city on Monday after a hiatus of 70 days.

With this, the state is almost open as even jewellery shops had opened shutters. Despite caution taking centre-stage in resumption of activities, the response of consumers was lukewarm. It is more of a wait and watch attitude that prevailed among them. In malls, the crowd was moderate and mostly women looking for buying cosmetics and garments were seen.

A surprise for consumers of electronic and electrical goods was the wait list for items like dish washers and washing machines. Almost all the shops have reported short supply or a long waitlist for these two items irrespective of their makes. These shops are, perhaps, the only ones doing a brisk business.

While the restaurants and hotels opened to serve customers, the footfall at these was not reported to be good. Though the hotel managements claimed to have adopted all precautions, general public was not buying the claim as the sanitization of kitchen zones of these hotels leaves several doubts.

However, the star hotels say that the process of welcoming guests with confidence also involves providing no-contact check-in service, mobile key technology and digitalised menus for a secure and comfortable stay.

Most of such hotels said that the guest rooms are thoroughly fumigated and disinfected following international hygiene standards prior to guest arrival.

The restaurants will be adhering to the new social distancing guidelines, with a redefined seating layout and contactless service and payment options. Some restaurants said that the takeaway option under the present circumstances was the best option. They said the biggest problem faced by them was availability of workers. Most of the migrant workers have gone back home. A lot of kitchen support staff comes from places like West Bengal and Odisha have left. Finding new workers following the Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) issued by the government was a big task. Almond House, the popular sweet shop has come up with a slogan, "Spend less time at Almond House." They have adopted safety measures including UV light disinfectant for take away boxes. However, they have shut their ice cream and cake counters.