Watchful Bengaluru back in business, but buzz is missing

BENGALURU: With most lockdown restrictions eased, Bengaluru was wary even as life returned to normal on Tuesday. Morning walkers queued up before Lalbagh and Cubbon Park, among other lung spaces, in the city, adhering to socialdistancing norms and sanitizing their hands at the gates.
As the morning wore on, government and private offices resumed work without any cap on attendance and private vehicles, BMTC buses, cabs
and autorickshaws filled the roads.But IT companies and several private companies stuck to the government advisory to work from home to the maximum extent possible.
Salons, shops and business establishments upped their shutters and shoppers stepped in gingerly. Kavya R, an IT professional shopping for kurtis on her birthday at a FabIndia store on New BEL Road, said: “All stores are practising social distancing, checking temperature and providing hand sanitizers at the entrance. This store also provided me with disposable gloves before I could touch the clothes on display.”
BMTC officials, however, said the ridership was comparatively less. Autorickshaws and taxis, too, witnessed less commuters and there were complaints of exorbitant fares being demanded by auto drivers and surge pricing by app-based aggregators. Across the state, police removed barricades to enable inter-district flow of traffic.