Chennai Corporation orders large stores to shut down

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Mar 18, 2020

On March 17, the Chennai Corporation civic body ordered large stores in the city’s T Nagar shopping district, including a host of textile and jewellery businesses, to shut their doors to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

 
“We have instructed shops, the bigger establishments which have large footfall, to shut down,” the Chennai Corporation’s commissioner, G Prakash, said at a press meeting on Tuesday, ET Bureau reported.

“This is in the interest of public health. Some of these stores have 1000 people working for them in addition to a huge number of people who visit.”

The enforced store closures in the area affect a number of branded textile stores including Kumaran Silks, Pothys, Chennai Silks, Saravana Stores, and Nalli Silks. Jewellery businesses affected by the shutdown include NAC Jewellers, Joyalukkas, GRT, and Kalyan Jewellers, among others. 
 
“They don't fall under the traditional definition of a mall but the state government told us we can ask establishments to shut down based on the kind of threat it may pose to public health,” said Prakash.

The Chennai Corporation has classified the shopping district as posing the same level of threat, as malls due to its heavy customer footfall. 
 
On March 18, India reported its third coronavirus-related death. The country currently counts around 130 confirmed coronavirus cases across the country with Maharashtra reporting the highest number of confirmed cases at 39.