No Easing Of Curbs, Chennai Cops Force Hundreds Of Shops To Shut

The extended lockdown is yet to be implemented in Chennai and there is utter confusion across the city as police personnel forced hundreds of standalone shops that opened after a month to shut on Monday.

At Chennai's Mandaveli, Arvind, a young entrepreneur's joy on re-opening his standalone electrical shop in Chennai after more than 40 days was short-lived. Even as customers queued up at the shop, a police officer pulled over and asked him shut shop and open only on Wednesday, despite the state government notification clearly saying that standalone shops can open from May 4.

"Just brush your stuff today and close the shop. You can only open on Wednesday," NDTV watched the officer instruct the owner of the shop.

Arvind says most shopkeepers had to pay rent for their shops though they had no business for over a month. "We have to pay EMIs and also the rent for the shop, which is around Rs 25,000," he said.

Not far away, Siva a hardware merchant too says he felt harassed by the police for no fault of his. He said "We just opened today but already they are announcing to shut shop. They are asking us to open after two or three days. The state government's notification and the Chennai Corporation's communication allow us to open right from today," said Siva.

Most shops on Anna Salai, an arterial road in Chennai, too remain shut.

When NDTV checked with a senior police officer, he cited a May 6 timeline on the government order, applicable only for industries that required prior permission from the collector or the corporation commissioner. Time was given for authorities to issue passes so that industries could function from Tuesday. "Greater Chennai Corporation and District Collectors shall follow the above guidelines and accord necessary permissions, enabling all the permitted industries to start their operations from 06.05.2020, the order reads.

Chennai's IT Corridor too is deserted. The usually chock-a-block area had few vehicles out on the roads on Monday, with hundreds of tech companies waiting for government permission to resume work with ten per cent of their workforce.

Tamil Nadu today touched another high with 527 new coronavirus cases. Most of them had contracted the virus from Koyambedu market for vegetables, fruits and flowers, one of the largest in the country that used to teem with thousands of people every day.

"I personally feel we have identified clusters, whether it's Koyambedu cluster or two or three other pockets where we are doing intensive, aggressive contact-tracing and getting them tested. That is the reason why in Chennai and in Tamil Nadu in general, the recovery rate is excellent," Dr J Radhakrishnan, Tamil Nadu's Relief Commisioner and Special Nodal Officer of Chennai Corporation, told NDTV

During the first two phases of the lockdown, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had announced stringent measures even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made the centre's plans public. However, this time, he chose to largely toe the centre's line.