Noida: Shopping malls, restaurants set to open today

Noida:

Noida:

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After a lull of over 70 days, shopping malls, hotels, and restaurants in the city will be allowed to resume operations from Monday onwards, with specific guidelines from the state government in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the arcades, playing areas for kids and movie theatres will remain closed till further orders, officials said.

According to the state government’s standard operating procedure (SOP), the malls will have to ensure social distancing, thermal screening, wearing of face mask, staggered entries, and controlling the number of visitors. Besides, the food courts at shopping malls and restaurants will have to operate at 50% seating capacity, the government’s order said.

“They (malls and restaurants) have to follow SOP and they can function from June 8. A few malls told us today that they have a number ticker and an internal system to monitor the number of visitors. Malls have been advised to control the number of visitors if social distancing norms get violated due to high footfall. As they already have a system, so there was no need for a separate order to limit the parking spaces,” said Suhas LY, district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar.

Apart from following SOP, the mall managers have also been advised to have a separate room or isolation room to keep any worker or visitor showing Covid-19 symptoms, till the medical help arrives.

With a few districts in the state seeing a separate district level order for malls and restaurants, creating confusion among a number of restaurant owners, the GB Nagar district magistrate clarified that the restaurants will not need a separate order from the district administration.

“Whatever the state government has allowed can function without requirement of any further or additional permission. Only establishments like gymnasiums, which are not allowed to function by the state government, will not operate. All permitted activities by the state government shall be treated as permissible and they should be carried out without getting separate permission or pass,” said the district magistrate.

According to the SOP, shopping malls, hotels and restaurants will also have to ensure thorough disinfecting of floor area, elevators and door knobs within short intervals. Social distancing norms have to be followed strictly everywhere, the officials said.

The state government has also ordered to adhere to the contactless payment modes only.

“All the shopping malls, restaurants and hotels shall accept payment through contactless mode, like e-wallets, digital payments, online payments, code scanning only,” says the state government’s SOP.

Meanwhile, the shopping malls in Noida said that they are making all necessary arrangements for reopening. While some will resume operations in coming days, a few said that they will begin operations from Monday itself.

“We are resuming operations from Monday between 11am and 8pm. We have also ensured all the steps to contain the pandemic, including mist sanitisation of all vehicles entering the mall, no valet parking to minimise the touch points and separate bio-hazard bins for masks, gloves and used napkins,” said Ravi Sodhi, director (communication), Wave Group that runs Waves Mall at Sector 18.

The Logix mall at Noida City Centre asserted that they will start operation from Tuesday and expect a footfall of around 10,000 a day against the usual 50,000.

“We have already made all necessary preparations, and have decided to take one additional day for buffer to ensure a few more steps, including creating an isolation room for any emergency. Our operations will begin from Tuesday onwards. We did not reduce our staff strength during the lockdown period. But we will begin with limited staff and keep others on standby. If the footfall increases, the staff strength will be managed accordingly,” said Amit Taneja, vice-president (operations), Logix.

The DLF Mall of India, one of the largest malls in Noida, said that they will resume operations in the coming week.

“We are prepared to open our malls in adherence with the guidelines being laid down by the MHA and further local authorities. Right from the temperature checks at our mall entrances to the use of Aarogya Setu app will be made mandatory for shoppers to enter our malls. We are also embracing technology for providing real time foot traffic and notifications on safety and cleanliness, among other such facilities, through ‘Lukout’ app,” said Pushpa Bector, executive director, DLF shopping malls.

Meanwhile, a number of restaurant owners in the city foresee losses due to the curfew timings.

“Most of the family restaurants, especially the fine dining ones, have decided not to resume operations from Monday. There are no issues with following the SOPs to contain the pandemic, but the curfew timings have curbed our mealtime. While for a proper fine dining restaurant, the peak time is between 8.30 to 9 pm, but due to the curfew timing we will have to wrap up by 8pm. So, we are not expecting business,” said Varun Khera, head of National Restaurant Association of India (Noida chapter) who owns Desi Vibes restaurant in Sector 18.

Some hotel owners have echoed the similar views.

“We are ready to host our guests and getting things aligned. Once all preparations are done, we shall be opening up. But the international flights are not operational and the domestic movement is not that much either, we don’t expect to have numbers coming into Greater Noida as such,” SM Azmat, president, Jaypee Greens Golf and Spa Resort, Greater Noida.