Starting Sunday, all shops, malls, gyms, salons to remain open till 10pm in PMC, PCMC

PUNE: After the state government on Wednesday announced operational timings for various businesses till 10pm, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Saturday issued an order extending daily closing timings for businesses till 10pm, effective from Sunday

PUNE: After the state government on Wednesday announced operational timings for various businesses till 10pm, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Saturday issued an order extending daily closing timings for businesses till 10pm, effective from Sunday.

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Following implementation of the latest round of relaxations in the cities of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad from Monday this week, only restaurants had been allowed to operate the dine-in facility till 10pm. With the Saturday order however, daily closing timings for other businesses too namely, all shops, malls, gymnasiums, salons, beauty parlours and spas have been extended from the earlier 8pm to 10pm within both civic limits.

In the PMC order, Vikram Kumar, municipal commissioner Pune, said, “The orders issued by the state government on August 11, will be applicable in the limits of the PMC from August 15.” Kumar had earlier said that the decision regarding extension of business hours would be taken in the weekly covid-19 review meeting which hasn’t taken place yet.

While operators of gyms, salons and beauty parlours welcomed the extension in timings, they also demanded relief from the government for the losses sustained during the lockdown.

Nilesh Kale, president of the Pune Fitness Club Association, said, “The fitness industry is slowly dying and many popular chains have withdrawn from this business. With the extension in timings, we hope to get more clients but we still need some support from the government to sustain the losses.”

Mall operators expressed the view that their business cannot revive unless the precondition of allowing only fully vaccinated people is relaxed. An official from a mall in the Shivajinagar area said, “Even if malls have reopened, the footfalls are less because of only fully vaccinated people being allowed entry. We have to turn down customers on a daily basis because they have only taken a single jab of the vaccine.” Earlier, traders in Pune expressed satisfaction over the 8pm deadline as well.

Meanwhile, after a gap of almost five months, Pune’s popular market places were once again abuzz with customers on Saturday. Mahendra Pitaliya, secretary, Federation of Trade Association of Pune (FTAP), said, “We got a good response on Saturday from customers. In the afternoon, there were long spells of rain which impacted the number of customers but by evening, the number began to increase again. We have been taking feedback from shop-owners from different parts of the city regarding the Saturday response for formulation of future policy.”