Traders in Kalwa demand lifting of lockdown in hotspots

THANE: On the first day of the partial unlock, there was friction between a few shopkeepers and TMC officials in Kalwa ward office where the traders were demanding permission to open their shops.
A few areas in the Kalwa falls under the hotspots for corona infection and thus, the new order by the civic commissioner has cleared that these areas shall remain under lockdown and other than essentials, nothing will be allowed to be kept open.
But the decision of the main Kalwa market to be shut has not gone down well and the shopkeepers started gathering at the Kalwa ward office on Monday.
IT was a chaotic scene at the ward office in the afternoon, when a bunch of shopkeepers from various hotspots turned up at the ward office and started an argument with the assistant municipal commissioner Sachin Borse.
A shopkeeper said, “We have cooperated throughout the lockdown and it would be nearly five months now that there is no income. We are pleading, to let up, keep the shops open for a few hours a day. This can lead to a very grim situation if we are not allowed to keep the shops open.”
A heated argument ensued and they confronted the assistant commissioner who said that the area falls into a hotspot and nothing he can do. He also told them to meet the municipal commissioner whose order he is following.
Speaking with TOI, Borse said, “The shops outside containment zones or hotspots are allowed to be kept open but the area falling under it has been told to completely shut down and decided by the municipal commissioner who decided to keep it shut.”