GB Nagar malls, restaurants set to reopen from Monday

Noida: After a gap of 50 days, shopping malls and restaurants in Gautam Budh Nagar will reopen from Monday with 50% capacity

Noida: After a gap of 50 days, shopping malls and restaurants in Gautam Budh Nagar will reopen from Monday with 50% capacity. Several restaurant owners and mall authorities said on Sunday that they are ready to open up their establishments with Covid-19 protocols.

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As per the latest order issued by the state government on Saturday, shopping malls and restaurants will now be allowed to open from Monday to Friday between 7am and 9pm. The partial Covid-19 curfew was imposed from the night of April 30 in the district. Restrictions were relaxed from June 7 after the district had reported less than 600 active Covid-19 cases.

However, malls in GB Nagar had started preparations for reopening after a similar announcement by the government was made on June 15.

“Cleaning and sanitising process has been underway at our malls since June 16. Even before the curfew, we had been following all social distancing protocols, including no-contact shopping and hourly disinfection,”said Shameem Anwar, associate director (marketing), Entertainment City, which runs Gardens Galleria Mall and Great India Place Mall in Sector 38A.

At DLF Mall of India in Sector 18, officials said that a meeting of all the retailers was held recently to chalk out a plan for reopening. “All our retailers have been following all Covid protocols. When the announcements were made on June 15, we held a virtual meeting of all retailers to talk about the plans and procedure for reopening. We hope for good business this time round,” said Pushpa Bector, executive director, DLF Retail.

Bector further said that the mall will reopen with 100% of its staff vaccinated. “DLF Mall of India runs with a staff strength of 3,000, including housekeeping staff, security and parking personnel, salespeople, retailers and food vendors. All of these people working at the mall have been vaccinated with the first dose in order to keep them as well as our visitors safe,” she said.

As per the order, a Covid helpdesk has to be set up at the entrance gates of the malls which will be equipped with a pulse oximeter, infrared thermometer and hand sanitisers.

Meanwhile, restaurant owners are hoping that people who have been locked inside their houses will be willing to eat out.

“I am reopening one of my outlets in Sector 18 with half of our staff to gauge the response. We are glad that restaurants have been allowed to reopen and we are sure that people will be willing to eat out with all Covid protocols,” said Varun Khera, head of National Restaurants Association of India (Noida chapter). Khera runs two food outlets in Sector 18.

However, those restaurants that also have a bar are not ready to open their establishments.

Vicky Saluja, owner of Baby Dragon Bar and Restaurant in Sector 18, says he will wait for permissions for reopening of bars at restaurants. “The orders do not allow serving of liquor. Hence, we will wait for that as of now. It will be a loss for us if we open our restaurant only for food. The weekend curfew is still there, which again will be bad for our business,” he said.

Rakesh Bahadur Singh, district excise officer, GB Nagar, said, “The serving of liquor has not been allowed as per the latest orders. It will be allowed once a separate order for the same is issued by the state government.”

District administration officials said that malls are allowed to function from 7am to 9pm from Monday to Friday. “Restaurants are supposed to keep alternate tables reserved with ‘do not sit’ markings in order to follow social distancing. At sweets/street food/fast food shops, people are allowed to eat with 50% occupancy,” said Suhas LY, district magistrate.

Rannvijay Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police, GB Nagar, said that police teams will make surprise checks at restaurants and malls to ensure all guidelines are being followed. “We need to ensure that the guidelines issued by the government are followed. We will visit restaurants and malls to keep a check,” he said.