Noida: Markets, malls see decent footfall as curbs eased

Several markets and malls in the city saw brisk business on Monday when night curfew timings were further relaxed to 9pm till 7am the next day

Several markets and malls in the city saw brisk business on Monday when night curfew timings were further relaxed to 9pm till 7am the next day.

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The latest unlock guidelines have extended timings of restaurants too, while keeping the weekend curfew in place. Malls and restaurants were required to keep the footfall at 50% capacity. They had been shut for almost two months due to the second wave of Covid-19 infections.

“Today saw an increase in the customer turnout as more establishments and restaurants opened. We expect the footfall to rise 25-30% more than what we saw in the last two weeks. Businesses have suffered major losses in the last 14 months which will hopefully start improving soon,” said Sushil Kumar Jain, president, sector 18 market association.

Logix Mall’s vice president of operations Amit Taneja too had a similar view although he hoped there would be further relaxations soon.

“By the afternoon we had seen several customers at the mall. The numbers will go up as the days progress. However, the weekend restrictions and nighttime guidelines is not very conducive to business. For a 9pm closing time, we need to start herding crowds out by 8pm. To sustain our operations, we need some more relaxations with timings,” said Taneja.

It would still take some time till all businesses in the district opened.

“Most of my staff had gone home during the lockdown. It will still take me a couple of days to reorganise everything with my suppliers and employees before I can start the dine-in here. As it is, not many people are expected to come out. Most of them are content with online orders,” said Shubham, an eatery owner in sector 76.

Many shoppers in the Sector 18 market on Monday were those for whom online services are not an option.

“My sister is getting married in July and we needed to do some last-minute jewellery shopping. Somehow, we have managed to do most of it through known contacts during the last one month because this is something that we are not very comfortable doing online. Plus, it seemed like a good time to come out as not many people are roaming in markets right now both because of the pandemic and the weather,” said Ruby Chawla, a customer.

“In the past year, I have become used to a different kind of lifestyle where going out happens only in very necessary cases. There might be a drop in the number of Covid-19 cases, but we are still not going to risk it. All of our needs can be taken care of online so there is no reason for us to go to malls for shopping or even dining,” said Ritika Singh, a resident of sector 75.

Meanwhile, police are urging people to follow all requisite guidelines.

“No undue incidents of violations occurred during the day and our teams will be out to ensure that the night curfew is enforced,” said deputy commissioner of police, zone 1, Rajesh S.

During the weekend lockdown, police prosecuted 4,699 people for not wearing masks and spitting in public and collected ₹4.75 lakh in fines. Similarly, over ₹1 lakh was collected in fines from nearly 1,983 vehicles. Over 130 people were booked for not following Covid-19 protocols and 110 registered cases across the district in this regard.