chandigarh punjab chief minister amarinder singh on wednesday announced phased opening of shops after some of his cabinet colleagues raised the issue of resentment among shopkeepers over selective closure of shops amid the covid19 outbreak the issue came up during a meeting of the council of ministerstaking note of the resentment amarinder asked district administration officials to work out a phased shop reopening plan for their respective districts an official spokesperson saidearlier manpreet singh badal tript rajinder singh bajwa and bharat bhushan ashu said shopkeepers especially in urban areas were upset about the selective shop shutdown as part of the restrictions imposed in the state the chief minister said the objective of the closure was to prevent crowding but phased opening could be worked out by district administrationsin cities like ludhiana shopkeepers had on tuesday protested the closure of nonessential shops till may15 as it was resulting in loss of business the state government had however allowed liquor vends and some other shops selling items like fertilisers grocery and hardware to open till 5pm during weekdays