Mad rush at markets in central districts, public skip all pandemic restrictions

 As the state government had announced full lockdown on Sunday to control the of COVID 19 variants, there was a heavy rush of customer in all the markets and shops in the central region on Saturday throwing away the warning and the mandatory masks and social distance norms to the wind.

Activists urged the police to step up the monitoring process at least in coming days. According to sources, the wholesale fish market, located at Kasivilangi near Woraiyur in Tiruchy, witnessed a heavy rush right from the early hours. The police and civic staff had warned the vendors to insisttheir customers to follow pandemic norms such as the mandatory masks and social distance.

“We keep on alerting the people to wear masks and maintain social distance but, customers out of enthusiasm don’t heed our requests”, said Suresh, one of the vendors at the market. As most of the customers came in two wheelers, there was a long queue of vehicles on main roads of Kasivilangi and this caused traffic jam till 11 am up to Woraiyur. On information, police rushed to the spot and regulated the traffic movement.

Meanwhile, the weekly goat market at Kannanur near Samayapuram too witnessed heavy rush and almost all the people present at the market did not even wear masks. Sources said, the goat market used to attract at least 5,000 people each week and this Saturday the number was more owing to Sunday lockdown.