In Pune, five shops sellingnon-essential merchandise of various categories will be allowed to remain open outside the containment zones between 7 am and 7 pm during the coronavirus-induced lockdown period till May 17.In the fresh order issued on Wednesday, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has explained the type of the shops that will be allowed to remain open under an alternate day arrangement and timings.The previous order issued on May 3 was silent on the category of shops that are allowed to function and their timing of operation. However, the city police had said that non-essential shops would be allowed to function between 10 am and 6 pm.As per the latest order, five standalone shops located on a particular road or lane in a distance of one Kilometre, will be allowed to remain open from 7 am to 7 pm within the Pune city limits on one day while five different shops will remain open on the next day."On one day,shops selling electronic items, computers, mobile phones and electrical will be allowed to remain open. On the next day, garages, shops selling hardware items, plumbing and construction material, cloths and dairy products will remain open," said civic chief Shekhar Gaikwad."This is a very simple method and will be convenient for the people," he said.However, there are no relaxations in the containment zones in the city where shops selling only essential commodities, vegetables, besides milk centres will be allowed to remain open between 10 am and 2 pm.In 330 sq km area of the PMC, only three per cent area is currently under the containment zones, he said.Earlier, long queues were seen outside liquor shops in non-containment zones on May 4.
