Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday has allowed 90 per cent of shops located in the containment zones to open up for business. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar held a meeting with PMC and Police officials along with office bearers of Federation of Trade Association of Pune (FATP) regarding this issue and later instructed civic officials to allow reopening of most shops in the containment zones.
PMC has demarcated areas like Bhavani Peth, Nana Peth, Raviwar Peth, Ganesh Peth as containment zones. These are wholesale marketplaces located in the heart of the city and which provide supplies of various goods to the entire Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad cities and western Maharashtra. These shops are locked for the last three months, which has affected the supply chain of goods too.
These areas were sealed off as the number of COVID-patients detected in these densely populated areas were large initially. The traders, however, said that sealing off an entire area because of patients found in some lanes is not practical. The FATP had demanded that only the building or surroundings where the COVID-suspects are found should be sealed and not the entire area. In other parts of the containment zone, businesses should be allowed to be operational.
FTAP and PMC officials had a meeting recently in this issue. Special Officer and Sugar Commissioner of the state Saurabh Rao visited the marketplace areas last week. They appealed to the traders to keep their shops shut for another five days after which a revised containment zone list will be declared. On this background, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar held a meeting with traders and officials and gave the orders to reopen maximum shops in the wholesale market.
