The Haryana Government diktat to close malls on Tuesdays has left most shoppers, shop owners and mall managements aghast. The general feeling is that such a move will inconvenience the shoppers who work in demanding jobs  at odd hours. Such shoppers cannot choose their time for shopping.
Shoppers feel that the closure order is a weird idea. Prakriti Sinha, who works for a BPO in Gurgaon remarked, ‘‘I work odd hours and get an off on rotation, mostly on weekdays. That is the only time I get to shop. I can’t understand how the government can even suggest something like this. They should, instead, be extending the timing of operation.’’
The mall owners consider this notification a retrograde step. It is against the spirit of globalization to shut shops especially in Gurgaon which is a global city. According to Sachin Mehta, managing partner of the Samsung exclusive store in DT City Centre, malls remain open all the week days throughout the world. Closer home, the malls in Delhi remain operational from 10 to 10 all through the week. Shutting the shops for four days a month will increase the costs of the malls.
The workers in whose name the order has been issued do not agree with it as they are already getting their weekly days of off any way. ‘‘Even now, my weekly off falls on a Tuesday as we all work on rotation. I don’t think closing all shops is going to make any difference,’’ said Meenakshi Arora, who works at the Ritu Kumar outlet at Ambience Mall.
The fact remains that the notification is going to deprive the workers of extra earnings which they get by way of working overtime on off days. The order, moreover, flies against its own liberal labor policy announced barely two years ago in the name of globalization of the markets.
The government short listed three sectors to exempt them from the usual restrictions on working hours and days. The three sectors were the IT, ITES and malls. According to para 14 of the ‘‘strategies’’ spelt out in the policy states: ‘‘In order to encourage IT/ITES industries, malls, the government has adopted a liberal policy in granting exemption’’ from the operation of Sections 9 and 10 of the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act 1958, under which the government fixes ‘‘opening and closing hours’’ and ‘‘closed day’’, respectively.