With the State Government deciding to allow all the sectors including Government and private offices, malls, hotels and restaurants to open up, Bengal is going to be almost fully operational from Monday barring cinema halls and educational institutions.
According to Government sources the public sector units will start operating from Monday with 70 percent staff strength though it was earlier declared by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that these would be functioning with hundred percent attendance.
The malls too would open to their regular business but with a rider. According to the new regulations entry inside these super markets would be restricted for people beyond 10 years of age and below 65 years, sources said adding footfall at a time would also be controlled.
At Lake Mall one of the largest such facilities in South Kolkata the entry of the visitors would be restricted to near about 7,000 people at a time.
“We have a capacity to host about 25,000 people but in the changed circumstances that number has been brought down to about 7,000,” a senior functionary said adding “social distancing norms will be strictly adhered to almost to the extent that the people will not have to handle the switches of the lifts even as they have been designed to run on sensors,” he said.
At a voguish restaurant around Park Street sources said “no personal contact will be required while we accept orders and serve foods… We have created barcodes through which the menu will be furnished and orders will be taken. Accordingly a waiter donning personal protective equipment will serve the food from a distance. There will be only one person inside the hall.
“The cutleries will be sanitized and certified before being put to use and after each visit of customers the entire desk and the area around will be sanitized.” The sitting arrangements have been extensively changed with one table placed more than two metres away from the other the manager said, adding, the entire cash transaction would be done online.
On the effectiveness of social distancing and related affairs inside the kitchen a senior functionary of a star restaurant said “the guests are free to visit the interiors anytime without notice and if a fault is found then we will undertake to bear the damages.”
A senior cook of another big hotel said “we have CCTVs fixed inside the kitchen so that there is no doubt in the minds of the guests who will however not be allowed inside the restaurtant without mask, face shields and caps etc.”
Notwithstanding the elaborate arrangements for public movement and jumpstart the economy a dull transport system post lockdown continued to bother the administration with people standing for hours to avail of bus services that were running far and few between.
With the Government refusing to hike bus fares — the operators have demanded a three-fold increase from Rs 7 to Rs 20 as minimum fare — a large majority of private transport was not operating in Kolkata and districts leaving large section of people stranded on roads waiting for buses for hours on end. The Government has allowed only sitting passengers inside buses.
Though the State Government created a fare regulatory board it could not make any headway till Saturday. However on Sunday one of the functionaries of the State private bus operators’ association said “we will ensure that at least 2,000 buses ply in Kolkata from tomorrow when most of the PSUs and private offices open,” adding the association will iron out differences with the Government through talks.