Uttar Pradesh government allows malls and markets to open five days a week in Noida

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jul 15, 2020

The Uttar Pradesh state government has decided to allow malls and markets in Noida to open for five days a week, and traders are eagerly awaiting the go-ahead from the local administration.

 
Traders in retail and business-hub Noida are expecting to soon increase their number of trading days per month from 12 to 20, following the Uttar Pradesh state governments’ new ruling, TNN reported. Shop owners had previously operated under an ‘odd-even’ system to open their establishments and the state government has now proposed that they should open five days a week and only close markets in the area on weekends.
 
“Though the state government has taken a decision, an order from the local administration is awaited. However, we welcome the chief minister’s decision,” said the Confederation of All India Traders’ convenor for NCR Sushil Kumar Jain, TNN reported. 

Noida and Greater Noida, which have 12 malls and over 200 markets, was recently impacted by a weekend-long lockdown due to high numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases in the area. Malls have been especially hard hit by lockdown measures as they have been deemed a high-risk for spreading coronavirus due to their crowds, and therefore, faced strict regulations.
 
“No shop opens before noon,” said Jain. “So, we request the government to allow us to stay open from noon to 8pm. However, we are happy with the government’s decision to allow us to open shops five days a week and keep them closed only on Saturdays and Sundays. This will enable us to do business for 20 days a month. Under the previous system, we were allowed to stay open only on alternate days. Now, even if we stay closed on Saturdays and Sundays, we can hope to make up in the five weekdays.”