Janata curfew Day 2: Wary of losses, many shops remain open

Nagpur: In spite of being a Sunday, the second day of janata curfew saw activity on the roads and marketplaces. Despite Nag Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce (NVCC) supporting mayor Sandip Joshi’s janata curfew call, many shopkeepers did business and a quarter of shops in the main commercial areas remained open.

Shops selling garments, auto spares, eatables, etc were open in Dharampeth, Central Avenue, Sadar, Sitabuldi, etc. Shopkeepers said that they had suffered huge losses during the summer lockdown and could not afford any more no business days.

Government offices, private offices, banks, etc were closed on account of Sunday. Therefore, the traffic on roads was less as compared to Saturday.

Vishal Jain, a garments store owner from Dharampeth, said that he had to keep his shop closed for three months during the lockdown. “I had to take loan from my relatives to meet my household expenses. Now, I have to work doubly hard to repay that loan. Even after keeping the shop open daily, I am not earning much so I can’t afford to close my shop even for a day,” he said.

Rajesh Bhatia, a cake shop owner from Sadar, said for him business is maximum on Sunday. “Many people buy sweets on Sunday as they visit their relatives and friends or when some guest comes to their house. If I keep my shop closed on Sunday, I will lose a lot of business. Even otherwise this two day voluntary curfew is of no use,” he said.

All the industries around the city functioned normally. The industrial associations had made it clear right from the beginning that they would not participate in the janata curfew. “If industries don’t function how will the government get revenue,” Pradip Khandelwal, president of Butibori Manufacturers’ Association (BMA), had told TOI.

Joshi had appealed for a voluntary curfew as the number of Covid cases in the city continue to spiral. As only 39 private hospitals out of 637 in city treat Covid patients, there is an acute shortage of beds for serious patients.

Guardian minister Nitin Raut had also planned a voluntary lockdown on weekends but dropped the idea after some days. He feels that livelihood of poor is adversely hit during lockdowns.

The civic and police administration did not extend any support to Joshi in enforcing the voluntary lockdown. Municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B made it clear through a tweet that it was completely voluntary while police officials told shopkeepers to lodge a complaint if somebody forcibly tried to close down their establishments.


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