DDMA gives the nod for reopening hotels in Delhi, gyms to remain closed

The Delhi State Disaster Management Authority on Wednesday gave nod to reopen hotels in Delhi.

The agency also allowed reopening of weekly markets on a trial basis. However, gymnasiums will continue to remain closed.

The Delhi government led by Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal had been advocating the reopening of hotels, gyms and weekly markets in the national capital since the start of Unlock 3.0 in the country. It had sent a proposal for this twice to the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, who also heads the SDMA, citing the decline in the number of Covid 19 cases in the national capital.

However, the LG’s office had indicated that relaxations such as allowing local weekly markets and gymnasiums to operate may lead to a resurgence in the number of cases and, therefore, rejected Kejriwal government’s insistence on that count.

Wednesday’s decision to reopen hotels is likely to benefit around four lakh people employed in the hotel industry in the national capital.

Senior government officials said that the trial period for re-opening weekly markets is likely to be anywhere between one week to 10 days.

However, gymnasiums and yoga centres cannot open in Delhi as of now. A decision on this will be taken at a later stage in another meeting of the SDMA.

Senior government officials said that a major concern expressed by the LG was the number of fresh cases Delhi continues to witness on a daily basis. According to the last one week’s data, Delhi on an average is getting 1,033 cases every day.