NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, MAY 19
Even as the number of coronavirus positive cases are increasing for the past few days in Tamil Nadu, life in the state (southern and central districts) are limping back to normal with increased vehicle movement on the road and some stand alone shops open for business in spite of lockdown 4.0 is in force.
The lockdown 4.0 began on Monday with several relaxations. In rural areas, salons raised their shutters on Tuesday morning after the state government permitted them, subject to conditions like maintenance of social distancing, wearing of masks and sanitising the shop five times a day.
Reports reaching here said, hair stylists in rural pockets were happy as they started to receiving customers. However, other shops were not so lucky.
In Chennai, though some jewellery, garment and other shops were open even in commercial areas, they did not get customer footfalls.
“The public transport – buses, taxis and autorickshaws – are not allowed to ply on the roads. So, there are no customer footfalls,” a garment shop owner said.
As people do not want to spend time in shops, it will take some more time for business to pick up, more so in the case of garment shops.
As stipulated by the government that shops should function without air conditioners, shop owners are sweating it out waiting for customers.
Defying the ban, some autorickshaws did ply on the road and police were busy booking them. Some buses were seen on the roads – but only to transport government officials to their offices.
Tea shops were open but the volume of business was not high as people’s movements on the roads have gone down and there is a general reluctance to eat anything outside. Industries – big and small- too started operations, adhering to the government guidelines.
