Kejriwal says no further relaxation till May 3, traders seek clarity on shops allowed to open

The Delhi chief minister said that neighbourhood and stand-alone shops will be allowed to reopen, but markets, shopping complexes and malls will remain closed.

There will be no lockdown relaxations in Delhi until May 3, except for those suggested by the Union home ministry, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday, adding that his government’s focus is on bringing down Covid-19 infections in the city.

Delhi currently has 97 containment zones, which are under strict surveillance and subjected to periodic sanitisation, door-to-door health checks of residents and scaled-up testing. (Raj K Raj/HT file photo)

He said that neighbourhood and stand-alone shops will be allowed to reopen, but markets, shopping complexes and malls will remain closed. Curbs in containment zones will continue as is, the chief minister said in a press briefing through video conference.

His statement came as confusion prevailed on the implementation of the Centre’s guidelines in the Capital, amid opposition from residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) across the city. Till Sunday, 2,918 positive cases and 54 deaths were reported in Delhi.

Stand-alone shops in residential areas, including those selling non-essential goods, are allowed to function in the Capital, expect in containment zones. These shops will have to follow the guidelines issued by the Union home ministry on Friday night. After the lockdown ends on May 3, the relaxations or curbs would depend on guidelines issued by the Central government.

“Shops selling essential goods would continue functioning like they were during the lockdown. Other than that, stand-alone shops in residential areas not selling essential goods would be allowed to function too, in adherence to the Central government’s guidelines. But no shops in markets, DDA (Delhi Development Authority) and civic authority-run commercial complexes and shopping malls would be allowed to operate. Also, no activities would be allowed in the containment zones,” said Kejriwal.

Delhi currently has 97 containment zones, which are under strict surveillance and subjected to periodic sanitisation, door-to-door health checks of residents and scaled-up testing. In these red zones, the government ensures doorstep delivery of essentials, so that residents do not venture outdoors.

Earlier, the Central government, in guidelines issued on April 15, had allowed conditional relaxations in areas outside containment zones from April 20. This includes self-employed workers, such as plumbers and electricians, workers at construction projects and industrial activities in designated industrial areas that have an adequate arrangement for accommodating workers.

However, Delhi has not allowed these relaxations due to presence of hot spots in all its 11 revenue districts. Kejriwal had earlier proposed to revisit the decision on April 27, but the plan has now been called off, said senior government officials on Sunday.

“Measures we take after May 3 will depend on the guidelines issued by the Central government,” said Kejriwal.

On Monday, chief ministers are scheduled to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video conference, to decide on the future course of action.

“Last week, there were more than 850 fresh Covid cases reported, along with 21 deaths. This week, the number of fresh cases dropped to 662 and nine deaths were recorded. It is important to note that recovery rate has doubled – from 260 people last week to 580 people this week. The trends are encouraging,” read a statement issued by the chief minister’s office later in the day.

Delhi chief secretary Vijay Dev issued an order about reopening of neighbourhood shops. “The said activities shall be allowed to operate in letter and spirit in Delhi with immediate effect, subject to strict maintenance of social distancing and other prescribed Covid-19 protocols… District disaster management authority shall ensure strict compliance of this order and bring this order to the knowledge of all field functionaries at ground level in Delhi for strict compliance without fail while ensuring that the containment of Covid-19 disease remains the main and prime objective of the district administration,” read the order.

Several trade bodies reported confusion about the implementation of the order. “There is a lot of confusion among traders, which prevented them from opening shops today (Sunday),” said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary-general of the Confederation of All India Traders.

The body has written to the Union home ministry, seeking clarifications, he said.

“In its letter to the home secretary, the confederation has said that despite orders being issued, there is confusion regarding what constitutes ‘neighbourhood shops’ and ‘stand-alone shops’. There are several interpretations by the authorities. There is, as such, no clear definition for such terms, which is a problematic matter,” said Khandelwal.