Over day 3 of Bengaluru shutdown, places of mass gatherings such as cinema theatres, malls, as well as schools, colleges, universities and coaching classes remained closed amid the Covid-19 threat. Between all, marriage halls, night-clubs, and other commercials outlets have reported a huge loss within these days.
Commercials suffer the shutdown
The Karnataka government confirmed that the number of coronavirus cases in the state had jumped to 10, late on Tuesday. Amid an increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the city, which led to shutting down of places of mass gatherings, is now threatening the commercial establishments which include night clubs and Wedding hall owners.
Wedding Halls
On Sunday, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) established rules and regulations for wedding celebrations saying that only those who booked halls prior March 13 can go ahead with the gatherings, but the function should not surpass 100 guests.
Nevertheless, the people who had already booked wedding halls, have made cancellations, demanding full refunds, which is indeed causing huge losses for wedding hall owners, said a report.
“I have suffered a loss of Rs 18 lakh… Since the coronavirus scare rose, only 400-500 people have come for weddings with a crowd of 2,000. We cannot force anyone also, even their health matters,” said Sampath S Nathan, Owner of King’s Court in Palace Grounds.
BBMP has also declared that during weddings, there should be a high standard of cleanliness and sanitation by using disinfectants with a 10% sodium hydrochloride solution. “No fresh bookings are allowed until further notice,” the directives said.
Somaiah K N, Owner of White Petals hall said, “We had about six bookings for this week and all of them are canceled. One person came for a refund the others are in two minds to cancel or to postpone. Both ways it is a loss for us. It is a 100% loss, the ones who had booked for April and May are also canceling their bookings.”
Night clubs and pubs
A report said that Night clubs and pubs were also affected due to this coronavirus breakdown. All the businesses are bringing down the barrel after the state government ordered the closure of all public gathering places for the next week to check the spread of coronavirus.
“We can understand why the decision is being taken; there is precedence in other countries. But we hope this is not very long, otherwise, the impact will be huge,” said Sibi Venkataraju, cofounder of brewpub Toit and The Permit Room.
He added that the business was already down between 30-40% in the last two weeks as fewer people gather at pubs, but with this shutdown, things have taken a completely different twist.
“This will put people out of business as overhead costs of salaries and rents will continue. If this is longer, we would need some support from the government,” he added.
A chef-partner of Toast & Tonic and Monkey Bar restaurants mentioned the move unusual, a change one is not usually prepared for.
“We are extremely dependent on operating revenues and this will result in a revenue loss of thousands of crores (of rupees) and also potential job losses,” he said. “If a restaurant makes an annual profit of Rs 50-60 lakh, a 10-15 day closure will wipe that out completely.”
Supermarkets across Bengaluru
Over Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) order to a shutdown of air-conditioned supermarkets across Bengaluru, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday reconsidered the closure of supermarkets in the city.
According to the sources, closure of supermarkets both in Bengaluru and other parts of the state had affected the people’s daily lives. Towards evening on Monday, CM directed the officials to revoke the closure orders at the supermarket.
“People, especially with the ban on weekly fairs and malls, will be visiting these neighborhood supermarkets to buy their everyday essentials. Closure of these shops would only affect the daily life of the people. Hence, the supermarkets facilitating trade of essential commodities are allowed,” an official of the state government said.
Work From Home
According to a report, the government had advised all the IT companies in the city to allow employees to work from home (WFH) as most coronavirus affected patients or their relatives were from this sector. But unfortunately, the WFH has certainly turned into WTF.
With no power and poor or no internet connectivity, working from home is now a nightmare for some in Bengaluru.
“There’s no power in my area from 1 pm. My power back up won’t last through the day. My boss is asking for reports and I’m unable to meet deadlines due to power disruptions. We don’t have to deal with such problems at work. But this is an extraordinary situation and WFH is proving to be a challenge.”
“It’s not enough if the state wants us to work from home, they should also provide us with the infrastructure for a WFH situation,” said a techie.
