Complete closure not a solution, says RAI to Delhi 6-day lockdown

With a six-day lockdown having being announced by the Delhi government, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) said a complete closure is not a solution. It called for a balance between lives and livelihood.

The retailers body asked the state government to allow all sizes and formats of non-food retail to take orders over phone and other electronic means for home deliveries. It said store premises can be allowed to be opened to the limited extent of fulfilling only home delivery orders.

Kumar Rajagopalan, RAI CEO, in a statement said the association appreciates Delhi government’s efforts to curb the surge of the pandemic in the Capital city. “However, we believe that complete closure is not a solution. There has to be a balance between lives and livelihood to ensure that while lives are saved, livelihoods are not lost.”

Rajagopalan asked the state government to permit all sizes and formats of non-food retail to take orders over phone and other electronic means for home deliveries. The store premises can be allowed to be opened to the limited extent of fulfilling home delivery orders while being closed for walk-in customers.

“This ensures social distancing and convenience to customers. In addition to daily essentials, citizens also need non-food items such as clothing, hardware, electrical, household kitchen items among others on a daily basis and should be able to have access to these needs without hardships,” he explained.

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Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister, declared a lockdown from 10pm on Monday night till 5am Monday, in view of an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases and the city’s health system being stretched to the limits. Kejriwal said it was needed to prevent the health system of Delhi from collapsing under the increasing number of patients as there is an acute shortage of medicines, beds, ICUs and oxygen.

Over the past few days, the daily COVID-19 positive cases have been around 25,500 and the health system in Delhi is under tremendous pressure.