Retailers expect fair play, ball now in govt’s court

Shops closed at Borivli. All non-essential stores have been shut since April 4. Pic/Satej Shinde

Bitter and bewildered, these are the emotions that mark retailers of non-essential goods in the city. The owners have spoken out about total confusion resulting in little clarity and no parity in a report in this paper.

In the second lockdown, the state government had mandated that essential goods could be sold from 7 am to 11 am, after which shutters had to be down. Non-essential stores were not allowed to open at all. E-commerce platforms were allowed to sell essentials. However, that soon became selling non-essentials too online, a piece in this edit space pointed to that, and, retailers' complaints drew no action.

Currently, the timings have been tweaked with essentials allowed to stay open till 2 pm. The state government had to take action as the second Covid wave swept through with tragic and perhaps unforeseen virulence. The problem is not with the measures which are always debatable, but the way they have been implemented.

Sudden announcements, constant guessing games for shop owners, not accorded the dignity of answers and an unequal playing field.

Pushed to the brink by the lockdown, several retailers who were out of direct sight of police patrols with stores in bylanes continued to operate with shutters partially closed after their time had elapsed.

Many non-essential shopkeepers were selling their goods through delivery contacting their customer base. It is a desperate situation and owners may have done all this to survive, but then, rules must be made with broader vision and more clarity so that things do not slip through the cracks as we are seeing now.

This has left a section of owners embittered and angry as they felt many persons have skewed the rules and some have benefitted even by blatantly flouting them. It needs expertise and perspective to frame rules so that it is equal strokes for all folks. Let the authorities ensure that.