• Malls, hotels report thin attendance; depleted workforce, few buyers at shops
• Both Government and Private Hospital Out-Patient Departments fully functional

Mysore/Mysuru: It has been three days since the Government allowed malls, temples, hotels and dine-in joints in city to re-open as the country entered the lockdown 5.0 or unlock phase. Except for gyms, swimming pools, bars and cinemas, everything else is open and even the Central Business Street, people are coming out in the open to shop. But the crowd is less, less than the normal.

Traders say depleted workforce, few buyers – it is a normal for commercial areas and shopping hubs post-lockdown. If one rates the commercial activities in a scale of one to 10, the city’s business activities can be rated at 5.5 to 6. And this is the scene across the commercial streets including D. Devaraja Urs Road, Ashoka Road, Sayyaji Rao Road, Makkaji Chowk, Shivarampet, Narayana Shastri Road, Vinobha Road, New Kantharaj Urs Road, Dhanvantri Road, K.T. Street, Temple Road Jayalakshmipuram, Kalidasa Road and Ramanuja Road.

Despite these places being opened after a gap of more than three months, many places wore a deserted look as the people are cautious and not ready to take risk of venturing out amid the ongoing Coronavirus threat.

“Business is not as heavy as expected though it was allowed after a gap of almost three months. You can see for yourself the crowd, it is not what it should have been in a commercial area like this prior to the imposition of lockdown. Hope it will improve”, a cloth merchant B. Ramesh said when asked for his reaction.

However, on the Old Bank Road, Gandhi Chowk, Maharaja Complex, Sumangali Silk, Sudarshan Silk and places where clothes and household articles are sold are seeing a lot of footfall, especially girls and women. Likewise shops that sell hardware, sanitary items, cement and iron equipment shops are witnessing good sales as the construction industry has begun in full swing.

Attractive discounts

Many shops have even announced discounts to pull customers. “I am ready to sell my products even at half price and this will enable me to get new goods so that there is regular movement of people in my store,” said Kailash, a readymade cloth merchant on K.T. Street.

“People don’t have to go to offices as most of the workplaces have asked the employees to work from home. Schools and Colleges are shut and hence, the teachers and staff do not bother to buy new clothes. If even a few customers turn up, they mostly buy bed spreads and household curtains for their home. It will take at least one year to recover from the loss,” Ashish Gupta, a garment merchant on Devaraj Urs Road said.

Hospital OPDs open

Hospitals, including Government and private sector ones have begun full-fledged operations both in the Out-Patient (OPD) and in-patient (IPD) divisions. State-run K.R. Hospital, Cheluvamba Hospital, Eye Hospital, Ayurveda Hospital, PKTB and Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences reported good number of patients.

On an average, 1,200 to 1,500 patient footfall is recorded at all wings of K.R. Hospital and till today afternoon, over 400 patients had obtained OPD treatment. The Surgery Departments at all wings including Orthopaedics, Ophthalmology and Urology have resumed normal surgery schedules with 15 to 20 operations a day. Likewise, private hospitals like Apollo BGS Hospital, Columbia Asia, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Cauvery Hospital and JSS Hospitals too have fully thrown open their OPD and IPD wings adhering to Government guidelines.

Hotels yet to pick up business

As per the details available with Mysuru Hotel Owners Association President C. Narayanagowda, only 35 percent of the hotels have opened since June 8. Most of the hotels are still encouraging parcel service and many of them are sporting empty tables. Of the 405 lodges that have dining and lodging facilities, only 125 have opened and there are not many check-ins.

Hotels have seen a radical shift in their work and service culture with hand sanitisers, thermal screening, face masks and social distancing for customers. This apart, they have to also record guest details including health status, digital payments and others.

Less crowd in malls

Malls still have not reported maximum shopping as very few visitors are seen. On an average, over 1,500 to 1,800 visitors are seen in any mall at any given point of time. Malls including Forum City Centre, B.M. Habitat Mall, Garuda Mall and Mall of Mysore have reported less footfall – a little over 500 at a given point of time – despite mall managements taking precautions.

Customers are being allowed inside premises after thermal screening and measures were taken to maintain social distancing during shopping and billing. Among the visitors most visited supermarkets located inside the malls to buy groceries and other household items. As per the order of the Government, cinema halls and children play areas remain closed.