Bhubaneswar: Odisha is now eagerly waiting for the announcement from the State government on lockdown & reopening after central government released its Unlock 3 guidelines yesterday. As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, there are a lot of speculations about the State government's move, especially in Ganjam, Khurda, Cuttack and Jajpur districts where the caseload is high.
Senior journalist, Rajaram Satapathy said, "The State government may consider declaring containment zones in infected areas and relax movement in other places, but it cannot permit more relaxation than what the Centre has allowed."
As livelihood of people has been adversely affected due to the lockdown, traders association on Thursday demanded the State government to allow opening of more businesses and also increase operating hours.
"We hope the State government will now relax some restrictions to bring the economy back on track. All business units should be opened and no restrictions should be there on operating hours," said Sudhakar Panda, general secretary of the State traders association.
In its new guidelines, the Centre has allowed opening of gyms from August 5, but the State is yet to come up with its own announcement. While the Centre's decision has brought a big sigh of relief for gym owners, some are sceptical.
"Our monthly expense is around Rs 1.5 lakh. Each equipment cost around Rs 3-4 lakh; so, how can we manage and repay our loans? We are still in confusion over the reopening as the State government is yet to take a decision in this regard," owner of Gofit gym in Cuttack, Surat Sekhar said while urging government to seriously consider their plight.
Gym owners want to open their fitness centres as they have already suffered a lot, but it should not be opened in view of the present COVID-19 situation as chances of infection in gyms is higher, said Subendu Shah, MD of Raja Fitness in Balasore.
(Edited By Bikram Keshari Jena)
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