Sunil Parmar, who owns a utensils shop at Parel, was relieved while attending to his customers on Tuesday, as there was no pressure to close his shop late afternoon. Instead of having to shut down at 4pm, he can now operate till 10pm, according to the new guidelines that came into effect in Mumbai from Tuesday. “We had decent sales on the first day of extension of timings,” he added.

As part of the Maharashtra government’s decision to partially lift lockdown restrictions, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) allowed shops to open till 10pm on all days, Earlier timings were till 4pm on weekdays. The BMC on Tuesday clarified that shopping malls will remain shut and restaurants will be allowed to remain open till 4pm on all days. Earlier, restaurants were allowed to remain functional only on weekdays. Restaurant owners have warned of an agitation at the “discrimination”, with the Vasai Taluka Hotel Association organising a 60km protest march on Wednesday.

Also Read | Shops to operate on all days till 10pm from today in Mumbai

Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 6,005 Covid-19 new cases with 177 deaths, while Mumbai reported 291 new cases with three deaths. Mumbai recorded 735,657 cases with 15,911 deaths till date.

Despite demands by commuters’ associations and political parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), the state has decided not to allow general public to travel by Mumbai suburban trains, as it is wary of Covid transmission.

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