Amid the growing concerns over the rapidly spreading coronavirus, the government has taken the initiative to launch 20 lakhs “Suraksha Store” which will be scattered across the country to provide daily essentials to the customers while adhering to the stringent hygiene measures.
The “Suraksha Store” will convert the neighbourhood retail outlets into sanitized stores and will maintain safety measures like social distancing and proper sanitization. To implement the plan, the government will take the private players in the lead, to ensure that the safety norms are strictly followed at every stage of the supply chain from manufacturing to selling in stores.
Pawan Kumar Agarwal has already held a meeting with the leading FMCG companies to intimate them about the plan and implement it. The government plans to develop a 20 lakhs Suraksha store in 45 days to facilitate the safe movement of customers in the store. Each FMCG company will have the responsibility of at least 1 or 2 states and will ensure a smooth and successful flow of the plan. Each Suraksha store will be obliged to prominently display educational posters at different intervals for the buyers.
To qualify to become a Suraksha store, the outlets should comply with all the mandatory norms like availability of medical kits, handwashing at a regular interval, availability of sanitizers, use of face masks, etc.
Apart from this, the government aims to develop “Suraksha Circle”, which is a wider version of “Suraksha Stores”. The leading manufacturing plants will help their business partners and small factories in their surroundings by making sure that safety is maintained across all levels of the supply chain. For this to happen, that manufacturing will adopt 10 SME’s and one village each for proper flow. By this, the government aims to make 50,000 SME’s and 5000 communities a part of the “Suraksha Circle”. Each Suraksha store and Suraksha will have to take an online training certification program to ensure awareness about COVID-19 protocols as per the Bureau of Indian Standards.
The plan not only includes groceries but consumer durables, apparel and salons also.
