Kolkata: Shops open for business three days a week in CBD

KOLKATA: Nearly 25,000 shops and establishments in central and parts of north Kolkata will remain open on alternate days after a few staffers were found Covid-19 positive and shop owners decided to avoid the crowd. The Confederation of Traders Association, a nodal body of traders, is issuing a notice to its members to keep shops open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Electrical and electronic shops on Ezra Street, NS Road and Ganesh Avenue were already following a three-day week pattern. “We held talks to look into the possibility of implementing a three-day week model for all 25,000 members of our confederation. They have agreed,” said Sushil Poddar, president of the organization.
The confederation might ask its members to divide their staff and attend office in two shifts. In some of the areas, shop owners have asked members above 65 years to stay at home. “We have assessed that keeping shops open for three days will not impact business. On the other hand, this will give us time to sanitize the areas,” said Poddar. “Traders in Chandni Market have also agreed. Since Posta Bazar deals with essentials, they will keep shops open through the week,” he added.
“We have started a three-day week model this Monday for nearly 4,000 electronic and electrical shops scattered on Ezra Street, Mangoe Lane, R N Mukherjee Road and NS Road. The shops were kept open from 11am to 5pm and our members adhered to that. There are some shops in Tiretti Bazar area as well and they followed the same model,” said L N Mundhra, president of the Calcutta Electric Traders’ Association.
About 700 hardware shops at Strand Road, NS Road and Canning Street have been kept open from Monday to Friday.
West Bengal Paper Traders Association has asked its members to adhere to three-day week model from Friday.