Coronavirus Lockdown: Shopping malls reopen in Jaipur as 'Unlock-1' kicks in

Many shopping malls in Jaipur reopened on Monday, as the state government decided to gradually ease restrictions imposed to check the spread of COVID-19.

On the first day of reopening, limited customers visited the city malls and there were arrangements for thermal scanning and sanitization at most places.

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“All the arrangements for sanitization and thermal scanning have been made. A buffer area has also been made where the material and goods will be kept for a certain period of time before being shifted to shops,” Anoop Bartaria, MD of Jaipur’s World Trade Park mall said.

He said, “Entire mall has been disinfected and the arrangement of sanitization is also there at different places.”

Some hotels and restaurants, however, remained closed despite permission from authorities to start their business.

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“We are not prepared to start operations of hotels and restaurants and will take another two-three weeks,” president of Rajasthan Hotel and Restaurant Association, Kuldeep Singh, said.

He said there is a delay in reopening as most of the workers at restaurants and hotels are not available.

Some restaurant and hotel owners decided to keep their facilities shut as they were not expecting many guests to visit in this season.

“It is off-season and guests are not expected, therefore we have decided to keep the hotel and booking closed this month,” a hotel owner in Jaipur said.

The government in its guidelines for restaurants had asked them to maintain a distance of six feet between tables, among other measures, to maintain social distancing and some restaurant owners see no profitability in such an arrangement.

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Chiranjeev Singh, owner of Baba Ganoush restaurant in Jaipur, said opening at this juncture is not likely to invite much footfall therefore he has decided to continue the closure of his restaurant.

“It will take some more time for the market to get normal. Customers are not likely to come in the expected number so therefore I have decided to not open the restaurant for a few more days,” he said.