Decoding Suraksha Stores: The Government's Retail Initiative to Fight Coronavirus

The government will rope in private firms to implement this plan, which seeks to ensure that proper protocol is followed in the entire supply chain, right from manufacturing units to retail outlets, to combat COVID-19…

- Charu Lamba

The government plans to set up a chain of 20 lakh retail shops called ‘Suraksha Stores’ across India which will provide daily essentials to citizens while maintaining stringent safety norms.

The Suraksha Stores’ initiative will convert neighbourhood Kirana stores into sanitised retail outlets selling daily essentials while adhering to safety norms such as social distancing and sanitisation to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.

According to Suraksha Stores’ website, “Suraksha Store is a public-private initiative to ensure that we can create a safe and secure environment for our consumers and shop owners at our Kirana stores. A Suraksha Store is a store (Kirana, pharmacy, consumer touchpoint) that follows 100 percent Suraksha safety norms. These stores shall be educated, certified, and validated to follow all common minimum health standards as well as safety checklists. Some companies have adopted states.”