CHENNAI: After more than 100 days of being a no-go zone for the public, beaches, cinema theatres, and parks reopened on Monday. People swarmed the beaches, but the short notice caught managements of other facilities off guard. Several theatres, parks and swimming pools did not open as maintenance work was still on.
Neither the governmentrun SDAT pool in Velachery and the Marina swimming pool nor private pools across the city opened.
Most theatres will open only by Friday. “There are no Tamil releases and it is the first working day of the week. We welcome the government’s move in allowing us to operate as livelihood of hundreds of families has been affected for long. We expect most theatres to begin operation from Friday by re-releasing movies of stars such as Vijay, Dhanush which released earlier this year,” said the manager of a city theatre.
A few multiplexes such as AGS cinemas in T Nagar, Villivakkam and Maduravoyal resumed operations with 50% occupancy. “All our staff have been vaccinated considering their safety and that of the audience. Our premises are sanitised regularly,” said a representative of AGS cinemas. Some of the screens had audiences too.
Beaches were a different story. From family outings to gatherings of friends, the crowds were back at Marina beach, much to the chagrin of the police and civic authorities as many did not follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. Police teams in all-terrain vehicles patrolled the sands trying to regulate the crowds.
Elliots beach too had lots of visitors. “These are just those from the neighbourhood. In the coming days and during weekends, there are going to be people from across the city gathering at the beach. That’s when the challenge begins,” a police official said.
Several people TOI spoke to at the beaches seemed to have let their guard down. “As soon as the news about beaches being made accessible for public came, I decided to visit with my friends. My parents would be against visiting air-conditioned spaces such as theatres or malls,” said C Saran, an engineering student.
Meanwhile, interstate bus services resumed with decent patronage to Nellore, Tirupati and Kalahasthi from the Madhavaram bus terminus.
