Restriction Day 2 evokes protest from shop owners, traders in Pune

Pune: For the second consecutive day, on Wednesday, shops in commercial areas like Bajirao road and Camp, opened in defiance of the newly imposed strict restrictions on non-essential stores remaining closed in the city

Pune: For the second consecutive day, on Wednesday, shops in commercial areas like Bajirao road and Camp, opened in defiance of the newly imposed strict restrictions on non-essential stores remaining closed in the city.

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Several non-essential shops opened on Wednesday, and even the police were on the backfoot with no major action taken.

The Federation of Trade Association of Pune (FTAP) has given an April 9 ultimatum to the state government to allow the opening of shops, or else, on Friday, all shop owners in Pune will open their shops at 10.30 am.

A protest has been planned on Thursday, from 11 am to noon, where traders and shop owners will walk along Laxmi road, from Vijay Talkies to Quartergate chowk.

“Due to these new strict restrictions imposed by the state government, traders are very angry, not only in Pune, but across the state. A meeting was held of all the trader associations across Pune district and it was unanimously decided to protest against this injustice. All the shop owners and traders will be protesting on Laxmi road with social distancing and holding banners in hand. On Friday if the new orders are not given, then all non-essential shop owners will open up their shops from 10.30 am till 6 pm,” said Fatechand Ranka, president of the association.

Kiran Baheti, a shop owner on Tilak road said, “I cannot afford to keep my shop closed for even a single day, as I am paying ₹30,000 rent per month. Already there is no business and when we were hoping to do some business during the Gudi Padwa festival, these restrictions were imposed.”

Pune city BJP party leaders also protested against the new restrictions. BJP MLA Madhuri Misal said, “When we had a meeting with the deputy chief minister last Friday, there was discussion about strict restrictions. Suddenly, after the chief minister’s address, the new norms were declared to close down all shops, which is not right. We protest against it.”