Aryan Grover
To combat the growing cases of COVID-19, Maharashtra has placed the state on a near-lockdown. The State government has directed that all non-essential stores, markets, and malls remain closed until April 30th. The trader’s body, on the other hand, has resisted it. They have given the state government a 48-hour deadline to lift the shutdown orders.
Work-from-home is booming again due to the state’s lockdown-style curbs, but the anxious traders on Lamington Road in south Mumbai are confronting the supreme irony: their electronics and computer hardware stores are closed.
Ravi Bohra of Libra Infotech stated, “This should be our time to sell laptops, routers, and computer parts. But the gains will now go to e-commerce platforms,”. “They offer cheaper deals and the laptop comes home.”
Over 1,200 shops on Lamington Lane, near the famed Opera House, offer computer peripherals, electrical goods, sound, television equipment, and even medical equipment hardware. The Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture (MACCIA) issued the Uddhav Thackeray government a 48-hour deadline to revoke the order by 6 p.m. on April 8.
The ultimatum was issued by MACCIA president Santosh Mandlecha during an online meeting with representatives from various trade associations from Pune, Gondia, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Solapur, Nagpur, Amravati, and Mumbai.
Appealing the State government to issue a more logical directive Mandlecha added, “If the government fails to withdraw its order, traders across the state will go ahead and open their shops.”