Ritchie Street, city’s electronics hub, reopens

Ritchie Street, city’s electronics hub, reopens

Alternate shops to function on specified days of the week

27/05/2020, SANGEETHA KANDAVEL,CHENNAI

Sober start: The Ritchie Street electronics hub re-opened partially for business on Tuesday.R. RAGUR_Ragu

Hundreds thronged Ritchie Street, the city's electronics market, where shops reopened on Tuesday after two months.

Only 40% of the over 2,000 shops opened for business. To ensure compliance with physical distancing norms, only alternate shops were opened. Red and green labels have been pasted on shop entrances. Those with red labels would open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while those with green labels would operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

“We were given permission to open shops on Monday [May 25]. Since it was a holiday on account of Id, there were hardly any customers and shopowners spent the day cleaning, disinfecting and arranging stocks. Business began only on Tuesday,” said R. Chandalia, secretary, Chennai Electronics and Infotech Traders Association, Ritchie Street.

As a precautionary measure, all entrances to the electronics hub were barricaded. Customers had to park their vehicles on Anna Salai. "There are two options that have been worked out for parking vehicles. One, there is a paid parking inside Casino Theatre. The second option is a free parking space at a ground close to the F1 police station," Mr. Chandalia said.

Pact signed

To ensure strict compliance with the rules, all shopowners in the electronics market which spans across Narasingapuram Street, Wallers Street, Meeran Sahib Street, Mohammed Hussain Sahib Street and Guruappa Road, and employs close to 8,000 workers, have signed a memorandum. The document contains norms that stipulate, among other things, opening and closing times and parking restrictions. It also bars loading and unloading of consignments between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Mukesh Khubchandani, president of the All India Electronics Association, Chennai, said, “We have told shops that disinfecting the place every two hours is a must. They must not entertain customers who walk in without wearing masks. We will be sending volunteers to each shop at regular intervals and if shops are found not following the guidelines, we will seal the premises immediately.”

Pent-up demand

In the afternoon, hundreds of college students were spotted at the market picking up spares and accessories. Vijay Anand, a student of an engineering college, had come with four of his friends to buy screws, batteries and wires for an aeronautics project. “We need to submit the project by August and it's not easy to source online,” he said.

Shopkeepers said that many of the customers had come to get their mobile phones and laptops repaired as well as to change screen protectors on their phones. “We had over 40 customers today who came in to get their laptops fixed. Since we want to avoid crowding, we have taken the laptops and given them slots to collect them over the next two days,” said a shopkeeper who did not want to be named. “With people working from home, there was good demand for power banks, emergency lamps and extension cables as well,” he added.

Ritchie Street is the second largest market for electronics in India after Nehru Palace in New Delhi. The market sells a range of products that span TVs, laptops, home theatre systems, mobiles, LED panels and lights. It also sells spare parts like capacitors, integrated circuits and cables, which are used by various manufacturing units.