With the possibility of a lockdown looming over Maharashtra, on Thursday, April 1, the Multiplex Association of India (MAI) along with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) wrote a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to rethink the same.
According to reports, MAI along with FICCI have stated that a lockdown, even with restrictions, is going to impact the cinema business negatively.
Speaking about the same, the cinema body, which represents all the multiplex chains, including, PVR, INOX and Cinepolis, said, “While we appreciate the efforts by the authorities to control the spread of Covid and are ready to support the Government and the District Administration to overcome challenges posed by the pandemic, we believe that the lockdowns (if implemented) are going to negatively impact the cinema, retail and shopping industry. Such measures that curtail smooth operations will not only deter genuine movie-goers and shoppers, who have slowly returned to cinemas and shopping centres, from visiting cinemas and malls but also put into motion a downward spiralling effect on the cinema industry and modern retail that could derail the recovery of these segments.”
On the other hand, earlier on Thursday, April 1, Mumbai reported the highest spike in cases of coronavirus recording 8,646 people testing positive for the disease due to which Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar hinted that some restrictions could be introduced in the city from April 2 where hotels could be asked to operate at 50 per cent of the seating capacity and religious places might be shut completely. Meanwhile, as per sources, the Mumbai locals might be restricted to only essential services staff as in the past.
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