After MHA order, stationery shops open in Delhi

Shutters of stationery shops in the national capital opened on Saturday after a month as the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) exempted all shops under the Shops and Establishment Act from revised consolidated lockdown restrictions.

Sanjay, the owner of a stationery shop in Hauz Khas welcomed the decision.

"This is a good decision. This will help children as their online classes have started. Offices and lab also need papers. We thank the government for this," he told .

Shopkeepers said that students need books and other stationery items as their online classes have started amid the lockdown due to coronavirus.

"I opened my stationery shop after a month. Classes of students have started. Offices also need stationery items. We are following social distancing," said Jagdish Batra, who owns a stationery shop near Ghanta Ghar in north Delhi.

According to the Home Ministry, all standalone shops, neighbourhood shops and shops in residential complexes are allowed to open in urban areas. However, shops in markets, market complexes and shopping malls are not allowed to open. The relaxations are not applicable in hotspots and containment zones.

Gurdeep Singh, a customer said that students have started doing homework so they need books.

"I need books for the children as their online classes have started. They are doing homework," he said.

Abhinav Pandey, who runs a stationery shop in Laxmi Nagar, said that shops are opened but wholesalers are not supplying new stocks.

"I got the information that stationery shops are allowed to open. I have opened the shop after a month. We are not getting many customers like earlier. This shop is the only source of income. Wholesalers are not supplying stocks," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on March 24 announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19. The lockdown was later extended till May 3.

All services, including public transport, schools, colleges and shopping malls, have been closed to contain the spread of novel coronavirus.

( With inputs from ANI )